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neetleteetlestweentytwelve · 1 month ago

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2/9/24

Welcome to the inaugural installment of TMNT rewatch diary. Let's get started!

Series 1 episodes 1 & 2: Rise of the Turtles

Summary:

We meet the Turtles and Splinter and learn of their origins. While on the surface they discover pizza and future best friend, April O’Neil and her dad getting kidnapped by the Kraang!

The first episode ends, with the Turtles finding a canister of mutagen identical to the one that transformed them.

In the second part, the Turtles discuss this twist on their origins, interrogate Snake, the guy hired by the Kraang and mount a rescue mission to save the O'Neils, but are only able to save April.

The episode ends with the set up of the Shredder as a major antagonist when he sees a news report featuring a shuriken with the Hamato Clan logo.

Observations:

The opening shots of New York and the sewers being entirely in 2D, was a little unexpected. I am used to and enjoy, the show's blend of 2D and 3D. I'm used to the series staying close to the ground and not focusing on the whole city.

During the sparring match at the beginning, Raph disarms Leo by using his sai to trap his wrist and flip him. He attempts the same thing on a Kraang later in the episode and it fails (probably because the Kraang’s heavier). Is this something that you can do with Sai? I feel like the gaps between the prongs would be too narrow for mutant turtle wrists. The sparring match also serves to establish the fighting styles and personalities of each turtle, e.g. Mikey's relaxed attitude, Raph's more aggressive nature and so on.

I was surprised that the turtles were given an explicit age of 15. I don’t know if that’s been done before. I feel that the 2012 series was the first TV instalment to make the turtles actually feel like teens, with Rise and Mutant Mayhem building on that kind of characterisation.

Also, if we assume that the series takes place in real time, the turtles and Splinter were mutated sometime in 1997, making them a bit older than me.

I understand that the reliance on worms and algae as food is a) a joke and b) to make the introduction to pizza more amazing, but I do find it a touch odd that’s the only food that Splinter and the turtles would eat. Also, they have TVs and games and stuff, but still haven’t gone up to the surface? And have never seen pizza before? Bit weird.

Leo is a nerd (affectionate), as he wholeheartedly emulates Captain Ryan. One of the characters in Space Heroes is voiced by Scott Menville, aka Robin in Teen Titans and he is one of several cast and crew that carried over from that show. Others include Greg Cipes, Ashley Johnson and Director Ciro Nieli.

The shots of the Turtles with their weapons are most likely test footage that's been included in the episode. It's cool to see, but it is very obviously test footage. Also, some of it is included in a remixed version of the intro, that plays before the dvd loads the menu.

Splinter "Look both ways before crossing the street!"

Here, have a concerned Splinter, for all your concerned Splinter needs.

Yeah Mikey, pizza can feel like that.

It takes 11 minutes before we see April for the first time and while I do have thoughts on how they handled April and Donnie’s relationship, I think I will hold off on it until I’ve watched more of the show. Because it may be different to how I remember.

I find the way that the way the Kraang are initially characterised to be interesting. One of my memories of the 2003 series are early appearences of the Kraang or Utrom. As a kid, the thing that unsettled me, was that they were people/robots with squid monsters in their stomachs, like this:

Or this:

The 2012 Kraang meanwhile feel more like they're channelling Men in Black with identical appearences and an eerie lack of emotion.

And the show does establish them as a threat. Especially, as the first Kraang we see out of the suit, tries to face hugger Mikey.

The first fight is rough. I know that’s the point, the turtles have never seriously fought anyone. But still, it is rough. Later when Mikey puts his foot in his mouth to deflect the blame onto Splinter, I was honestly expecting Splinter to ban them from going up to the surface again. Instead, he acknowledges his flaws, he hasn’t taught them to fight as a group and suggests trying again in a year, but relents when Donnie points out that O’Neils don’t have that time. Why was I expecting him to be unreasonable and stern?

Is it because of stuff later in the show? Because it seems like a good way of driving conflict? Worse case scenario, after Mikey says something he regrets the moment it comes out his mouth? Who knows.

[Cut to the side, where the turtles are scaling the wall.]

Mikey "Wow, lucky thing that van showed up to distract them."

Donnie "

[Rolls eyes and accidentally hits himself with shuko spike.] Ow!"

Leo "That was the plan, Mikey. We knew Snake was hiding in the alley, so Raph and I made him think we would be in the van."

Mikey "But we weren't in the van."

Leo "Just keep climbing."

Mikey "Can do."

Mikey's dialogue here annoyed me slightly. It felt like they were leaning a little on 'too dumb to live' tropes while writing him.

I liked that when they were rescuing April, Donnie got to be really cool and creative e.g. wedging a shuriken between his toes and then kicking it into a Kraang bot’s head. It’s a level of creative fighting, the show demonstrates at different points.

At first, Snake’s presence in the premiere confused me. From what I remember, the Kraang didn’t really have many or any human underlings. There’s a seemingly infinite number of Kraang, why hire this guy? Then he got mutated into Snakeweed and things made more sense.

On that note, I do think that 2012 made the right choice leaning into the more horrifying aspects of mutation. It sticks in the viewer’s mind and emphasises that with few exceptions, mutation is not a thing that you want to happen to you.

Also, why did the Turtles leave the ooze in the van, when they used it as a distraction? Why do that?

Speaking of ooze, it did feel a bit weird that Raph was willing to threaten Snake with mutagen and that the others let him. Because at this point, they don't know much about the mutagen, aside from their own origins. During this scene, I caught a brief animation error, where Raph's eyelids seem to clip through his mask. It's a very blink and you'll miss it error.

Also, it turns out that April is staying with an aunt, we never see. And I don’t recall that ever being brought up again. Now all I’m thinking is that there was an entire character and set of plot threads that we could’ve gotten. I just assumed that April lived by herself or something like that.

Leo "Thank you, Sensei. And I think I figured out why you made me leader."

Splinter "Oh? Why is that?"

Leo "Because you sensed inside me a true warrior's spirit that could forge us all into the heroes we are destined to become."

Splinter "No."

Leo "No? Then why did you make me leader?"

Splinter "Because you asked."

This exchange made me chuckle. Splinter's response is so simple that it undercuts Leo's dramatic speech about destiny. It's also funny because, from my perspective, Leo is always the leader.

Something I didn't catch the first time, is the long name of Carlos Chiang O'Brien Gambe. Honestly, I don't know how I didn't notice that, probably because he's a background character so I didn't focus much on his name.

A couple of final thoughts, obviously the show needed have a reason for the Shredder to come to New York. But why would put your clan logo on a shuriken? Feels like it goes against the concept of ‘Ninjas are stealthy and hidden’. It also feels like something that’s easy to exploit.

Think about it. You could easily frame someone by leaving their logo at a crime scene, e.g. Ninja clan A frames Clan B, to get the favour of a particular lord or something.

But of course, this isn’t a period drama. It’s Ninja Turtles. The only clans here are Hamato and the Foot.

Shredder's debut is very sinister. The stark, angular lighting of his room reminds me a little of shows like Samurai Jack and I like how there is an air of mystery around the true appearence of the Shredder.

I feel it is slightly ruined by the cliff hanger shot showing his face in better lighting.

This was a strong start to the series and just as enjoyable as it was when I first saw it. Now on to the bonus stuff.

Trivia:

At the beginning Raph was reading a comic with an 80s based version of the character, Mutagen Man on the cover and a woman who looked a bit like 80s April.

Scenes I remember:

Mostly scenes from part 1 of the premiere. The mutation day celebration. The algae and worms. Scenes on the surface like the discovery of pizza and seeing April for the first time. The part 1 cliffhanger.

Tallies:

The series premiere establishes a few reoccurring themes. These include: Mikey is always right/has the first encounter. The guys accidentally get someone mutated. Mentions of unseen characters. And Mikey's nicknames.

To explain each one, throughout the series, Mikey is often the first turtle to encounter a new character or threat and his initial judgements are frequently correct. Mikey's encounters will get dismissed by the others for comedic affect, only for it come back to bite them.

Despite being the good guys, the Turtles are often the unwitting catalyst for characters getting mutated. I plan to keep track of how many mutations are the Turtles' fault and how many aren't.

There are a number of characters that are only mentioned, despite the fact they should have an impact on the narrative. I'm explictly focusing on references to characters, that never show up.

Throughout the series, Mikey thinks up different nicknames for various characters, primarily bad guys. It enables the show to establish ties to previous incarnations and gives an in universe reason for characters to suddenly go by names like DogPound, Spider-Bytez or Monkey Brains.

Times Mikey was right: I

Times the guys caused someone to get mutated: I

Unseen Characters: I

Mikey's Nicknames: I

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed and I hope you'll stick around. See you next time!

#tmnt #tmnt 2012 #tmnt rewatch diary

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