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Has it really been 20 years since the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles first became cool? It must be—because they were around for about five years before they jumped the shark and became a Saturday morning cartoon. The makers of the original Ninja Turtles series are gradually releasing the show on DVD—and now they’re up to season four.
I was a fan of the original black-and-white comic version of the Ninja Turtles, which was a very grown-up comic book, in terms of content. The artwork was different from everything else, and it was just plain cool. Unfortunately, none of that translated to the cartoon series. The series is clearly dumbed-down for the kids. The animation style is only about a step more modern than the old Hanna-Barbera stuff, and the dialogue and plots aren’t that great, either, as they avoid the double-edged jokes geared towards adults that so many cartoons now make a habit of dropping in. But I’ll admit that I’m just being harsh because I was such a fan of the original product.
The upside of this release is that the entire season comes in one box set. All 39 episodes are neatly squeezed onto five discs, along with some nice extra features from the people who were involved with the project. The episodes are all in chronological order—though that doesn’t really mean that much in the end, since the season doesn’t have a story arc that carries over through multiple shows (as the more mature-leaning Justice League did with such great results).
The series actually isn’t bad for a Saturday morning cartoon aimed at six-year-olds. My seven-year-old loved it. In fact, he spent all of his television time for an entire week watching this set. He said that it was the best cartoon he’d seen “in my whole life, ever since I was a little kid.” That’s high praise from a critic who’s seen a few thousand hours of animated television. The pop-out head of Donatello on the cover of the DVD really impressed him, too.
Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael make good light entertainment for the kids. So if you’re looking for something to keep them entertained, then this is a great DVD collection to pick up.
