In 1984 Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird released a little known black and white comic on their very own Mirage label, following the adventures of four teenaged mutant ninja turtles and their surrogate father, a Rat named Splinter, only 3000 copies were produced of that initial run, hoping to cover costs, but before the decade closed out they would have the largest kids franchise on the planet, thanks in no small part to an animated series that started in 1987 and a toy line that hit the shelves in 1988. Our mutated Testudines (because they are tortoises, not turtles… bloody Americans) were everywhere and on everything, from lunchboxes to socks, nothing could stop this behemoth, so it was inevitable that they would make their transition to the silver screen (because comics and cartoons were for kids, but cinema was where the real money was).
Thrown into production in 1989 under the production umbrella of Golden Harvest (not their first venture into US film production, with the likes of Cannonball Run and MegaForce both being released by the studio better know for its slew of Kung Fu greats starring Bruce Lee and later Jackie Chan) and a floundering New Line Cinema onboard for distribution, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Movie, with an initial budget of $3m dollars looked to catapult a new wave of comic book adaptations into the cinema chains and VHS market of the early 90s. This they did with aplomb. Whilst the budget would eventually balloon to $13m, thanks in no small part to the maestro of puppetry Jim Henson being brought on board to weave his magic and innovation, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would emulate the success of Tim Burton’s Batman from the year previous and become the biggest box office success of the year 1990 raking in over $200m worldwide.
With success like that a sequel was inevitable and less than a year later, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret Of The Ooze hit theatres. Replacing the original April O’Neil, Judith Hoag (who was apparently not asked to return after she raised concerns over crew safety and the level of violence on the first picture), in stepped Paige Turco and with a much “lighter” tone took a hold of the franchise. Judith Hoag wasn’t the only missing member of the cast either, with Elias Koreaa’ Casey Jones noticeably absent, along with several of the voice cast, including Corey Feldman as the voice of Donatello, himself admitting that his addiction to heroine was out of control and had booked himself into rehab. However, the tonal shift geared towards a younger audience and the music video-esque conclusion featuring one Vanilla Ice couldn’t prevent this rushed sequel from staggering at the box office, grossing $78.7m on a budget of $25. Still a success, but diminishing returns and rising costs would spell trouble for any potential sequel.
They still speak to the demographic that it was intended for, and in a world of YouTube and Fortnite, that’s high praise indeed.
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Yet, despite the disappointment of finding out about the Ooze, it was only two years later that we would get or heroes in a half shell back again. This time without the force and innovation of the Jim Henson Workshop (who’s namesake founder had passed away shortly after the making of the first film), this time it was about just that, time. Elias Koteas and Corey Feldman were back, along with Paige Turco as April O’Neil. Costa were cut and ideas were stretched, the time angle was one that had been incorporated into all aspects of the TMNT universe, including the comics and the cartoon. However, with a budget that barely scraped enough to cover costs ($21m), this was the least impressive entry of the time jumping epic (it is alluded to in this film that the titular Turtles had been to the medieval Japan and fought the ancestors of the villains of this story, which ties into the comic and cartoon entries, but isn’t fleshed out in any way). With a return of only $54.4m worldwide, this spelled the end for our heroic quartet on the big screen… At least for the time being.
Three films held in the hearts of many with strings of nostalgia. I’ll admit that I was a little too old for the target demographic upon its release, I was too busy listening to punk rock and watching slasher movies by the dozen by the time these movies came out, but I remember the hoopla and the social impact these had. However, that was 35 years ago, so how do they hold up in 2025? The best way to test this is through the eyes of the target audience as it would have been back in 1990, 1991 and 1993, those of a 10 year old. So I watched these with my 10 year old son and this is what he thought:
The third movie was the best by far. I love samurai and Japan, so that makes it perfect. The first was one was pretty good. I didn’t like Danny’s t-shirt, I thought that was weird, but yeah, pretty good. The second movie was decent. I liked it when Master Splinter said “I made a funny”, Super Shedder was OK, but I liked the dancing and the rapping.
So there we have it. They still speak to the demographic that it was intended for, and in a world of YouTube and Fortnite, that’s high praise indeed.
Arrow Video have included a plethora of extras, from commentaries to new interviews, new and original artwork and 4K restorations of each film, so if your nostalgia is anchored by Four Pizza munching Turtles, then this set is a must.
We’ve seen quite a few iterations of the TMNT gang over the years, from animated to cgi “live action” explosion fests, it would seem the lifespan of these films is the equivalent of the animal on which they are based, which also means there are plenty of years left in the franchise yet, and releases like this will only keep that going.
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES TRILOGY 4K IS OUT ON ARROW VIDEO BLU-RAY
