Turtles Forever (2009)

[Silver Nemesis]

This movie was made for TV to celebrate the Ninja Turtles' 25th anniversary back in 2009, but I only saw it for the first time last night after picking up a cheap copy of the DVD. The 1990 TMNT film will probably always be my favourite, but this one gives it a run for its money. If nothing else, it's definitely the funniest movie in the series. The plot follows on from the 2003 animated TV show and sees those versions of the Turtles team up with both their 1987 counterparts from the Fred Wolf cartoon and their original Mirage Comics iterations from 1984. The animation brilliantly captures the contrasting character designs and art styles from the different eras.

The film acknowledges the existence of a Turtles multiverse and includes references to other realities such as those from the 1990s film trilogy, the 1996 anime and the 2007 CG movie.

Tokka and Rahzar from TMNT 2: The Secret of the Ooze (1991) make a cameo during one of the action scenes.

The end sequence is chock full of panel recreations and dialogue from the original Mirage series and even features some amusing Miller-esque voice over narration lifted straight from TMNT Vol 1 #1 (May 1984).

I remember when this film came out hearing some fans complain that the 1987 Turtles were portrayed as too clownish or cowardly, and I can see where that criticism is coming from. But the treatment of the 1987 Turtles was funny enough that it didn't bother me. It is a shame the original voice actors didn't reprise their roles, and some of the new voices clearly don't match the old ones. The classic 1987 theme tune is also conspicuously absent for legal reasons. But none of these issues struck me as a major detriment.

If you like the Batman: The Brave and the Bold animated series – which was also crammed full of comic references and humorous nods to earlier screen versions – then you should enjoy this. It's a sweet, funny celebration of the franchise's history that manages to pay homage to almost every incarnation of the Turtles on page and screen. As near as I can tell the only major incarnations that weren't acknowledged were the Konami videogame and Next Mutation versions. There's an argument to be made for the Next Mutation Turtles being older versions of the nineties movie Turtles anyway, so their absence is not a major oversight. I'm just impressed they managed to reference as many different versions of the TMNT gang as they did. I wish every superhero could get an anniversary special like this.

Turtles Forever is a must-see for any TMNT fan or anyone just looking for a funny light-hearted superhero film to watch. Last year I ranked the six theatrically-released Turtles movies as follows:

6) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
5) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993)
4) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Out of the Shadows (2016)
3) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991)
2) TMNT (2007)
1) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)

Turtles Forever is not a theatrically-released film, but if I were to rank it amongst these others it would be up there at the top of the list with the 2007 and 1990 movies. I highly recommend it.

[thecolorsblend]

My understanding is that Turtles Forever tries to pay homage to all three of those iterations of the Turtles. The idea is something akin to Batman, where each version has its own validity and merit. I kind of like that.

People who are bigger TMNT fans than I am all seem to agree that Fred Wolf Turtles are probably the main beneficiaries of all this good will, as even the "new" Turtles are somewhat taken aback by the (relatively) silly 90's animated Turtles but eventually they come to respect them. Their pratfalls and humor belie their prowess and effectiveness, especially against such high tech adversaries.

My recollection of the Fred Wolf cartoon is that it started off semi-gritty (by 1980's kid cartoon standards) and got progressively... let's say "lighter" with each subsequent season. Even as a kid, I resented that. I liked the idea of the Turtles being a bit more serious and tough. I got to the point where it seemed like the show was talking down to me. I wanted something slightly heavier.

Don't get me wrong, the original Mirage comics were way too balls-out for me back then but I still wanted something slightly grittier than the 1990 live action movie. And never really got it. At least not when I was a kid.

Apparently there was some Behind The Scenes stuff going on where the cast wanted the show to be more Saturday morning while the showrunners (at least first) wanted something more serious. Obviously the cast won. And it was a good business decision, obviously. But the final product isn't always a creative success. At least not by my hazy memories.

So now here we are. And here I am.

[thecolorsblend]

I'll use this post to once again recommend the 25th anniversary film Turtles Forever (2009). It came out just two years after TMNT and is very much of the same vintage. It's easily the funniest of the Turtles movies. Moreover, it was Into the Turtle-Verse nine years before Into the Spider-Verse existed. Nowadays multiverse movies are all the rage, but the Turtles did it first back in 2009. We've got a thread on Turtles Forever here: https://www.batman-online.com/forum/index.php?topic=3672.

I went back and forth about my reply to the above. But ultimately, I decided this thread is the best place for it.

Based on your recommendation, I finally watched TF. And I have to say, it's very enjoyable. Full disclosure: I know nothing about the 2003 animated series that spawned this movie. But still, this incarnation of the Turtles was quite enjoyable. And this film in particular is quite enjoyable.

The best part is that the three main depictions of the Turtles shown in the movie (the 2003 animated version, the 1987 animated version and the Mirage Studios version) are all shown to be equally valid. The differences between each incarnation are highlighted with love and affection. They're all brothers. They're all equally valid.

In fact, one thing TF cemented for me is my desire to see a pure OG Mirage animated film or show or what have you. I have no idea how successful such a thing would actually be. But the sample we get of Turtle Prime is certainly tantalizing to me.

One thing I'm unclear about is the window panes into the multiverse. Some of those are recognizable as other adaptations of the Turtles. The 1990 film and the 2007 TMNT film are self-explanatory (at least to me). But are all of the other window panes actual adaptations too? Or just creative license? Because the one directly beneath the 1990 film window pane looks very interesting to me. Very interesting.

[Silver Nemesis]

One thing I'm unclear about is the window panes into the multiverse. Some of those are recognizable as other adaptations of the Turtles. The 1990 film and the 2007 TMNT film are self-explanatory (at least to me). But are all of the other window panes actual adaptations too? Or just creative license? Because the one directly beneath the 1990 film window pane looks very interesting to me. Very interesting.

Many of those images are taken from the comics, though some might have been made especially for the movie. I can't identify most of these...

...except for the Turtles in the centre, which are from the Japanese anime series Mutant Turtles: Chōjin Densetsu Hen (1996).

Moving on to this.

I have no idea where the image on the left is from. The top image is obviously from the 1990 movie...

...and the one below is a drawing by Eric Talbot from the Mirage series.

Looking at these...

...the Turtles on the top left are also from the 1996 anime series; specifically from an episode titled 'The Coming of the Guardian Beasts – The Metal Turtles Appear'.

Top right is clearly from the 2007 TMNT movie.

I don't where the bottom left image is from, but bottom right is the cover of Mirage Studios' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles V1 #16 (September 1988).

Those are the only ones I can identify. If anyone knows where the other images come from, I'd be interested in knowing too. One universe that's conspicuously absent is The Next Mutation. Apparently Eastman and Laird hate that show and didn't want it referenced.

I'm surprised they didn't reference the Turtles from the Konami videogame series in Turtles Forever. Those games were extremely popular back in the day.

There were more multiverse high jinks in the 2012 CG Turtles series.

I only saw a handful of episodes from that show, but it looked pretty good.