Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ( TMNT ; also known in Europe as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles , TMHT for short or Ninja Turtles , according to the changed intro logo) is an American comic series that has been released since 1984. It was originally conceived and produced by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird . Peter Laird is now working alone on the comic series after Kevin Eastman sold him his rights.
Based on this successful comic series, two cartoon series, one CGI series, five real-life films, two completely computer-animated films and a less successful, short-lived real series have been developed, and a few games have been developed parallel to the comics and the cartoon series. First, a cartoon based on the comics was developed, which ran from 1987 to 1996 in 10 seasons . At the same time, three real- life films were produced in the early 1990s , but they are an adaptation of the comics that is independent of the cartoon series. Following the first cartoon series, the production of a real-life series with independent content began in 1997 . The series was badly received by viewers, which is why it was discontinued in 1998 after only one season. From 2003 to 2009 a second cartoon series was produced in 7 seasons, which again adapted the comic book. The computer-animated film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles , released in 2007, and the 81-minute television film Turtles Forever , which is a crossover between the current animated series and the first, were created for this second series .
In 2009, the US television station Nickelodeon obtained the rights to the TMNT franchise and was planning a new feature film for 2011. Between 2012 and 2017, the CGI television series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was broadcast. In 2018, The Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles followed as a 2D animated series.
Comic
Origin of the comic
As a parody of the popular 1980s comic series Daredevil , X-Men and Ronin, the two cartoonists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird had developed a short story about four mutated, talking giant tortoises who were taught the art of ninjutsu by an equally mutated rat . After the self-produced and printed first edition was enthusiastically received nationwide because of its dark, weird charm, Eastman and Laird began to work on further stories and the Ninja Turtles universe became independent, gained depth and grew beyond a mere parody . The namesake of the Turtles were the four Italian Renaissance artists Leonardo da Vinci , Michelangelo Buonarroti , Raffaello Sanzio and Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi , known as Donatello.
content
The comic is about the four mutated - therefore humanoid - turtles (English: Turtles ), Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo, who live in the sewers of New York . The four Turtles are taught the Asian martial art Ninjutsu by Master Splinter, who has mutated into a humanoid rat . Master Splinter takes on something like a father role for the four Turtles, who are around in their teens at the beginning of the series . He is their mentor and tutor and learned his knowledge by imitating its former owner Hamato Yoshi (in other versions is he Hamato Yoshi).
The only uncovered contact with the surface is kept by the four turtles with a scientist named April O'Neil (in the first animated series and in the real-life films, she is a television news reporter, in the CGI series she is a teenager) and a vigilante with ice hockey Mask called Casey Jones. The four turtles prefer to eat pizza. Each of the four main characters has a certain character trait. Leonardo (Leo) is the quiet leader, Donatello (Donnie) the thinker and inventor, Raphael (Raph) the aggressive rebel and Michelangelo (Mikey) the comedian. The Turtles differ in the weapons they each specialize in and, in later versions, continue to be differentiated by the colors of their face masks. Leonardo (blue) fights with two katanas (swords), Donatello (violet) defends himself with a Bō (baton), Raphael (red) distinguishes his Sai (hand trident), and Michelangelo (orange) wears nunchaku . The nemesis of the Ninja Turtles is the evil Shredder, the leader of the Foot Ninja Clans (translated in German as 'Foot Gang'), who has mutated subordinates in the first cartoon series. In the real series, Dragon Lord becomes her worst enemy.
The comic series now consists of four years. In the fourth year, the Turtles have developed significantly. They are now in their thirties with more fighting skills and a more aggressive sense of humor, and their friends April O'Neil and Casey Jones are married with an adopted daughter named Shadow. However, after the sale of the usage rights to Nickelodeon in 2009 , the series was abruptly ended without continuing the storylines that had begun. The Mirage Comics are currently available in new editions from IDW Publishing , which has received the rights to process the comic medium.
Vintages
| running time | title | expenditure | US publisher | DE publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984-1993 |
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 1 Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles * |
62 issues | Mirage Publishing | Condor |
| 1987-1989 | Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 1 | 7 issues | Mirage Publishing | - |
| 1989-1995 |
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles * |
72 issues | Archie Comics | Condor |
| 1991-1992 | Turtle Soup | 4 issues | Mirage Publishing | - |
| 1992-1994 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Special | 11 issues | Archie Comics | - |
| 1993-1995 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 2 | 13 issues | Mirage Publishing | - |
| 1996-1999 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 3 | 23 issues | Image comics | - |
| 2001-2009 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 4 | 32 issues | Mirage Publishing | - |
| 2003 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | 7 issues | Dreamwave | - |
| 2004-2010 | Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 2 | 70 issues | Mirage Publishing | - |
| since 2011 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | 147 issues so far | IDW Publishing | Panini Comics |
| 2012-2013 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Micro Series | 16 issues | IDW Publishing | Panini Comics |
| 2012 & 2014 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Annual | 2 issues | IDW Publishing | |
| 2013-2015 |
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: New Animated Adventures Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The New Adventures * |
24 issues | IDW Publishing | Panini Comics |
| 2013 |
Secret History of the Foot Clan The Secret History of the Foot Clan * |
4 issues | IDW Publishing | Panini Comics |
| 2014 | Utrom Empire | 3 issues | IDW Publishing | |
| 2014 | Turtles in Time | 4 issues | IDW Publishing | |
| 2014 |
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles / Ghostbusters Ghostbusters / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles * |
4 issues | IDW Publishing | dani books |
| 2015 | Mutanimals | 4 issues | IDW Publishing | |
| 2015 | Casey & April | 4 issues | IDW Publishing | |
| 2015-2016 |
Batman / TMNT Batman / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles * |
6 issues | IDW Publishing | Panini Comics |
| since 2015 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Amazing Adventures | 13 issues so far | IDW Publishing | |
| 2016 | Bebop & Rocksteady Destroy Everything! | 6 issues | IDW Publishing | |
| since 2016 | TMNT Universe | 13 issues so far | IDW Publishing | |
| 2016-2017 |
Batman / TMNT Adventures Batman Adventures / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles * |
6 issues | IDW Publishing | Panini Comics |
| 2017 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles / Usagi Yojimbo | 1 issue | IDW Publishing | |
| 2017 | Dimension X | 5 issues | IDW Publishing | |
| since 2017 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles / Ghostbusters II | so far 1 issue | IDW Publishing | |
| since 2017 | Batman / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II | so far 1 issue | IDW Publishing |
* German title of the series
Adaptation for other media
In the late 1980s, the comic series with its four protagonists Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello had become so popular that television stations offered the cartoonists to produce an animated series based on their characters.
The animated series was a worldwide success and had 10 seasons with a total of 193 almost half-hour episodes. The Ninja Turtles phenomenon was unavoidable in the early 1990s. Three live-action films were produced, which adapted the comics independently of the series. Endless masses of merchandising flooded the international market. Comics publishers other than Eastmans and Lairds Mirage Publishing published Ninja Turtles comics (including Archie Comics and Image Comics ), all of which were quite successful.
role playing game
In 1985, Palladium Books published the role-playing game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness . Up to 1994 a total of 11 extensions had been published.
First animated series 1987–1996
The popularity of the comic book in the late 1980s led television stations to offer the Turtles inventors Eastman and Laird to produce an animated series based on their characters.
Real series
In the late 1990s, a live series based on the previous live-action films was created with the title The Ninja-Turtles (English original title: Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation ). In the series, however, the well-known framework story is expanded to include another fifth Turtle, the missing sister of the Turtles Mei Pieh Chi , also known by her nickname Venus de Milo (named after the famous statue: Venus von Milo ).
Second cartoon series
From 2003 to 2009 a new animated series was produced for US television. This new series is based more on the original comic than any previous comic adaptation. Although this series is also mainly tailored to children, it is much darker and more intelligent than its predecessors.
CGI series
Between 2012 and 2017, the fourth series adaptation ran on television, this time by Nickelodeon. The series is about the first adventures of the four turtle brothers in New York City. 124 episodes were produced in five seasons.
Third cartoon series
Since September 2018 a new 2D animated series called is The Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ( Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ) aired on Nickelodeon. The character designs of the well-known characters were newly developed and the roles changed. April is now an Afro-American girl and Raphael is the leader of the Turtles. 26 episodes were ordered in one season. The German-language branch Nickelodeons published the first episode in advance on January 29, 2019 on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, the Nick website and app, and the TV broadcast is scheduled for April 8, 2019.
IDW comic
After Mirage Studios had sold the rights to the franchise to the Nickelodeon studio in 2009, IDW Publishing published a new edition of the TMNT comic from 2011 . Their atmosphere closely follows their Mirage templates, but also includes many popular elements from across the franchise, such as the characters Karai , the Utroms , the mutated alligator Leatherhead, and the fugitoids from the Mirage Comics; Krang , Bebop , Rocksteady , Slash and the Neutrinos from the 1987 cartoon series ; and Ch'rell , Hun and Angel from the 2003 animated series .
In this series, the Turtles and Splinter begin their existence as the reincarnations of Hamato Yoshi and his four sons, who were murdered by the shredder in medieval Japan after Yoshi resisted his bloodthirsty leadership of the Foot Clan and was branded a traitor. However, the secret of their mutation is much more deeply linked to the fate of the whole earth than they could have first imagined: The utronomical warlord Krang secretly tries to colonize the earth for the last survivors of his people, and the mutagen which of his originated in the dead homeworld, has also contributed to the fact that the shredder was able to survive to this day, in order to finally be able to take control of New York. In addition, a group of ancient, immortal beings, who were worshiped as gods in ancient times, rise again and in a kind of "game" - with the protagonists of the series as their "pawns" - dispute the rule over humanity among themselves .
Film adaptations
The first cartoon series increased the popularity and awareness of the Turtles franchise to such an extent that three real- life films were made at the beginning of the 1990s, which re-adapted the comic book independently of the cartoon series running at the same time. Thanks to the commitment of director Steve Barron , the first real-life film was based more on the original comic. The first film adaptation was so successful that a sequel was produced shortly afterwards. The second part was significantly less successful. Still, a third part was produced, but it was even less successful at the box office. As a result, no further films were initially produced.
After a very successful new animated series was broadcast in the United States of America since 2003, which adapted the comic book again, much more faithfully, a completely computer-animated film was produced that was based on this series. In 2009, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles Forever was another animated film produced. In contrast to the previous four films, it built on the plot of the first and second cartoon series.
In 2014, a new real-life film was released under the title Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles . The material was redesigned by Paramount Pictures , Nickelodeon , Michael Bay and Platinum Dunes , directed by Jonathan Liebesman . Alan Ritchson (Raphael), Johnny Knoxville (Leonardo), Jeremy Howard (Donatello) and Noel Fisher (Michelangelo) played the Turtles, while Splinter was voiced by Tony Shalhoub . Megan Fox starred as April O'Neil, Will Arnett played director of photography Vern Fenwick, and William Fichtner played the film's antagonist. Although the film received negative reviews - at Rotten Tomatoes , the film only received a rating of 21% based on 131 evaluated reviews - a sequel entitled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Out of the Shadows was released in 2016 .
- 1990: Turtles (Original title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles )
- 1991: Turtles II - The Secret of the Ooze (Original title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze )
- 1993: Turtles III (Original title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III )
- 2007: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ( TMNT )
- 2009: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles Forever
- 2014: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- 2016: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
2019 appeared with Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles do a crossover with Batman .
Video games
Over time, a large number of video games have been created based on the classic and new series, as well as on the animated film.
| title | Platform / s | Publication date |
|---|---|---|
| Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles | NES , C64 | 1989 |
| Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles II: The Arcade Game | NES | 1990 |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan | Game Boy | 1990 |
| Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles II: Back from the Sewers | Game Boy | 1991 |
| Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles III: The Manhattan Project | NES | 1991 |
| Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist | Sega Mega Drive | 1991 |
| Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles IV: Turtles in Time | SNES | 1991 |
| Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles III: Radical Rescue | Game Boy | 1993 |
| Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles: Tournament Fighters | SNES, NES, Sega Mega Drive | 1993 |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | GameCube , Game Boy Advance , Xbox , PlayStation 2 , PC | 2003 |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 - Battle Nexus | GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Xbox, PlayStation 2, PC | 2004 |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 - Mutant Nightmare | GameCube, Nintendo DS , Xbox, PlayStation 2 | 2005 |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Mutant Melee | GameCube, Xbox, PC | 2005 |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Fast Forward - Ninja Training NYC | Mobile game | 2006 |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Power of 4 | Mobile game | 2007 |
| TMNT | Wii , Xbox 360 , PlayStation 2, PSP , Nintendo DS, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, PC | 2007 |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up | Wii, PlayStation 2 | 2009 |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled | PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360 | 2009 |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Arcade Attack | Nintendo DS | 2009 |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows | PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360 | 2013 |
In addition, several games have appeared as arcade machines , for the Amiga and other home computers .
Web links
- Official website (English)
- The Turtles at the rights holder Nickelodeon
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from February 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ https://www.paninicomics.de/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-3-i10435.html
- ↑ https://www.paninicomics.de/-i11209.html
- ↑ https://www.paninishop.de/artikel/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-9
- ↑ Now online: New "Turtles" series with voices from Tramitz and Freshtorge. In: fernsehserien.de. January 29, 2019, accessed January 29, 2019.
- ↑ Nick premiere | "The Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". In: Facebook . Retrieved January 29, 2019.
- ↑ Mike Fleming Jr .: Deadline Lifts The Shell Off The Ninja Turtles , deadline.com, March 25, 2013, accessed April 21, 2013
- ↑ IMDb: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- ↑ IMDb: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2
