User Reviews

I remember watching this as often as I could when I was younger. When I was 11-12 years old I would get up early enough in the morning to watch it before I left for school... but I was interested in the show from as far back as I can remember. I collected the action figures(not dolls, no; boys play with action figures... girls play with dolls) from a young age, as well as comics, and I even own two VHS tapes with two episodes each(unfortunately, these were dubbed, as most filmed entertainment geared towards kids are, in Denmark). I write this review right after having watched all four episodes in immediate succession for the first time in more years than I can say for sure. Possibly as much as a full decade. All the fun of them came right back to me even as I thought of them. Sure, the show had its flaws... there are glaring continuity errors aplenty, the dialog(packed with more or less lucky one-liners) and plot lines are often somewhat daft... but when you look at the plus side(as well as keep in mind that this is still a children's show), it's just no contest. The pacing is excellent. Having just watched an hour and a half of it, straight, I can say that I wasn't bored at all, in spite of remembering most of what would happen. The action is exciting, intense and downright cool. And the theme music(which I found myself humming in anticipation before the tape was in the VCR)... I doubt there is or will be anyone, whether kid or adult(who is at least a little in touch with their inner child), especially male, who don't like it. The plots are often simplistic, but as far as I remember, never (too) obvious and usually entertaining as well as gripping. It mostly manages to dodge the Batman-esquire/James Bond-ian cliché of having Donatello produce some gadget from his belt to solve their problems. The humor is silly and somewhat childish, but it fits its audience quite well(and I can't claim that I didn't laugh several times throughout watching the four episodes). The whole level of writing basically does, really. The fights are well-choreographed and fairly frequent. All in all, a pretty solid show, that provides many hours of check-your-brains-at-the-door entertainment. I recommend it to any fan of the four green humanoid heroes, and anyone aspiring to become such a fan. Turtle Power! 8/10

TMNT was the first animated adaptation from the dark parody comic by Kevin Eastman. It is focused in children and adults that want to have fun watching delicious adventures of 4 mutant ninja turtles, against alien forces and other ninjas, with epic soundtrack and awesome lines such as "wake up and smell the pizzas".

This last until the 7th season, because seasons 8-10 are a mess, trying to replicate the darkness and edgyness of other famous animated series in '90s, such as Batman and Gargoyles.

If you want something more adult, the next adaptations will be more to your liking. But TMNT '87 will always be the best pizza.

Sure, by modern standards this is a very cheesy animated series, with rather silly plots...But it is also inmensely entertaining to watch, even without "nostalgia glasses": The writers were clearly having great fun with the bizarre plots, and they made many 80s and 90s kids happy.

Also it has a very catchy intro, a great quality from many Saturday Morning Cartoons which sadly many modern action animated shows lack.

I just wish some of the fans weren't so biased towards the other animated series: Amazing how some of them keep bashing the 2003 series to this very day, even when it was the most faithful adaptation of the Mirage comics.

You know, the "real, original" turtles that existed prior to the creation of this series.

Teenage Mutant Nija Turtles is something I will never forget because it touched me in a way no other series did when I was a kid. The Ninja Turtles were fun loving, pizza eating and ninja fighters. And they taught kids lessons along the way. What more can you ask for. Oh yeah, the next best thing.

As a kid, this was one of the greatest TV series of all time. Everything about it was fresh and original; nowadays, cartoons (and other TV shows) copy other shows. Leonardo was always my favorite because he was the mature, leadership-involved turtle. I miss it not being on the air. This show, the Transformers, G.I. Joe, and X-Men were the best cartoons.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series is one of My favorites of the 1980s animated programs. When it was on I watched it as much as I could! It has very good animation, cool characters, some humor, great music, and awesome action. The characters are really neat. All of the the Turtles are great, April is so good, Splinter is so spiritual, and Shredder is excellent. I loved how all of the characters have great personalities. In My opinion I don't think there will be a cartoon like this again because it was one of a kind! If you like the Turtles movies but never saw the series and are able to watch it on television or buy it on tapes then do so because the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon is a classic!

I am still very fond of Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. It was a huge favourite of mine when I was little, and re-visiting it again it is still is. yes perhaps not the truest to the comics but on its own terms it is amazing. The animation is amazingly detailed, with the colours smooth and the character designs on target. The music is wonderful, the theme tune is very memorable and the incidental music compliments perfectly, while the writing is humorous, intelligent and smart and the story lines interesting and coherent. The characters are still memorable, all four turtles are immensely likable with unique personalities, Splinter is both wise and kind and April is beautiful and not vapid. I also love Shredder, he is funny and menacing and overall just a really interesting lead villain. And the voice acting from all involved is top notch especially from Barry Gordon and James Avery. In conclusion, wonderful show. On a side note the 2003 series was decent enough, but lacked the charm and heart here in this series. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Nothing beats the original turtles. By far the best ones.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to kids in the late 80s-early 90s were among the most popular toy lines available, as well as one of the most popular cartoons both on syndication and CBS Saturday Morning. They were talking turtles with a rat leader, living in the sewers, using matrial arts to fight bad guys in New York City, eating pizza, cracking jokes, and hanging out with hottie April O'Neil. I mean, as kids, we loved it! Now revisiting this series, the cartoon that started in 1987 and wrapped up in 1996, I can see some significant flaws and how the show went from an action/comedy classic to over the top cheesy to more serious.

The show began in 1987 as a mini-series that played on syndication (mainly new FOX stations). The turtles before this were a little known cult comic book series that was VERY different from what ended up in the cartoon. In the comic, they were violent, wise cracking turtles who cussed, smoked, drank and weren't afraid to cut off heads or other body parts. It was a dark strip, similar to Batman pre and post campy era and Sin City. To make the cartoon more in line with the new toy line and appealing to children, many things were changed and liberties taken. The turtles were given colored masks to tell them apart (in the comic book they all wore red masks). Also, while still wise cracking, their personalities were toned down significantly, in particular Raphael and Michelangelo. Raphael was still "rude" but in a much nicer way and Michelangelo started talking in surfer lingo, popularized by many films in the mid 80s like Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Also, the turtles weren't nearly as violent, rarely using their weapons and instead of fighting humans like the comics, they fought robot foot soldiers and mutants from Dimension X. Pizza, Bebop, Rocksteady, Krang and the Technodrome were all additions to the cartoon series.

The cartoon did a wonderful job appealing to children and changing the attitude from the comic strip. It was funny and fun and kept viewers interested. The first season in particular did a wonderful job of keeping the action and comedy at a great balance. The turtles fought with their weapons, the animation was high quality, and the entire five episode series had an edge to it. That completely changed in the second season were the series started going downhill fast. Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, the creators of the series, were disappointed in this change. They wanted to keep the dark, edgy elements. Instead, the jokes got corny, the fighting scenes silly, the animation poor and the writing atrocious. This continued until the last two seasons, were the show tried going back in a dark direction, but it was too late by that point, as most of the fans had grown up and moved past this series.

Overall, as a kid I couldn't get enough of this show, but as an adult now I see how bad some of the episodes were and how far it strayed from its source of material. If you haven't read the highly underrated comic book series, I recommend it. It's like night and day to what they became by the early 90s. I'd honestly love an adult swim series that goes off the comic book that appeals to young adults and more mature audiences. While the new cartoon is doing great on Nick, us adults who grew up on these guys would more than welcome them back as a show that has more adult themes.

I mean..What can i say about The Ninja Turtles..One the best shows ever made lol.

I'm still impress on how much of a success the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have had back then and how much it still is a huge success it is.

I mean Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is one of the best cartoon shows ever made.

Not only was the TV show a huge success, but so were the Merchandise.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had everything from T-shirts, Hats, Cereal, Music CDs, Pencils, Pens, Kids Games, Posters, Video Games, And A lot of Action Firgues.

The show was nothing but good fun, funny, and good entertainment.

All the characters in the show were great and fun to watch.

I enjoy this Verison of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles than I do the New Verison.

This Show Rocks!!!

They're the world's most fearsome fighting team (We're really hip!) They're heroes in a half-shell and they're green (Hey - get a grip!) When the evil Shredder attacks These Turtle boys don't cut him no slack!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Splinter taught them to be ninja teens (He's a radical rat!) Leonardo leads, Donatello does machines (That's a fact, Jack!) Raphael is cool but crude (Gimme a break!) Michaelangelo is a party dude (Party!)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Heroes in a half shell Turtle power!

Being a child of 11 years old the first year that this show aired I was kind of glad that I got to watch this on CBS. I loved TMNT and find that TMNT 06 is barely even watchable.

You've got 4 turtle teens each having different personalities and their sensei who happens to be a rat and the TMNT name is born. I loved TMNT when I was a child and I had hoped for its return to YTV. If not for the parent and teacher groups acting to get this show banned from YTV I think it would have lasted a lot longer than it did.

Thank goodness for TELETOON otherwise we wouldn't have Ninja Turtles today.

I watched this almost all the time when I was a kid. Seeing the Foot Soldiers, Krang, Shredder, and everyone else was great. I can still picture it all. Too bad that it isn't airing anymore. At least videos are made, so you can enjoy the turtles all over again.

I don't care that the original 1987 "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" cartoon was toned down drastically from the Mirage comics first published in 1984 by co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. As a die-hard Turtle-fan I grew up while Turtlemania was at its peak, so this cartoon was obviously a must. Sure, it's a wanton commercialization of a once-novel idea, the grit and violence now slapstick rather than graphic. The show basically follows the adventures of our four reptilian mutant heroes (Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michaelangelo, and their sensei Splinter) as they continue a never-ending battle with the Shredder and his Foot Clan, and finding allies/foes with aliens, travelers from Dimension X, and even other mutants. Mixing old characters (April O'Neill and Casey Jones, for example) with new and original ones (Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady), "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" succeeds in just being fun entertainment, and is still one of the greatest pieces of animation made within the last 25 years. The new animated movie certainly looks promising in returning the characters to their roots in the real nitty-gritty, even though I'm not too hot on CGI turtles.

10/10

Many die-hard TMNT fans will tell you that the cartoons are juvenile and overrun with corny jokes, corny plotlines, and references to pizza. They'll proclaim that the original Mirage comics are the "true" incarnation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

They're mostly right, but the first season of the cartoon (a 5-part miniseries, originally shown in the space of one week on syndicated TV in 1987) knocks the block off the comics and off all other action cartoons ever written. It retains the dark, edgy feel of the comics, but contains enough humor to avoid seeming stern or self-absorbed.

The miniseries details the origins of the TMNT and their master, Splinter the rat--it seems Splinter was originally Hamato Yoshi, an instructor in the Foot Clan of ninjitsu in Japan, until he was double-crossed by one Oroku Saki and banished. Yoshi then fled to New York City and lived in the sewers with the rats and four pet turtles. One day, Yoshi found the turtles covered with a powerful mutagen which turned the turtles into humanoid turtles and Yoshi into a humanoid rat. Knowing that they would be considered freaks by society, Yoshi trained them in ninjitsu. Yoshi named the turtles after his favorite Renaissance painters: Leonardo, Raphael, Michaelangelo and Donatello.

While skulking through the sewers, the turtles rescue April O'Neil, a TV news reporter who has run afoul of an army of street thugs while investigating a series of break-ins committed by ninjas at high-tech scientific equipment companies. Upon meeting her saviors, April promptly faints, and the turtles take her back to their lair. When April comes to, Splinter tells her their origins. April, however, is unimpressed and thinks the turtles are responsible for all the break-ins she's been covering. The turtles persuade April to hold off on any impulse reporting and let them find the crooks for her.

The turtles and April investigate these robberies and discover that they were perpetrated by an army of robots wearing the colors of the Foot Clan, leading Splinter to conclude that Oroku Saki is the leader of the whole operation. Splinter gets captured by Saki's robots and taken away. The turtles hunt down Saki in his base--a mobile underground fortress called the Technodrome--and discover that Saki, who now calls himself the Shredder, is indeed responsible for the crimes the turtles have been investigating. Not only that, it was Saki who dropped the mutagen in the sewers, thinking it would destroy Yoshi. Shredder makes a bid for the turtles to join him, but they refuse, and then proceed to kick the butts of his henchmen.

In later episodes, it is revealed that Shredder is in league with an alien warlord named Krang from dimension X, and that Krang wants to bring his troops from dimension X to conquer Earth. The turtles manage to foil Shredder and Krang's ambitions by causing the Technodrome to suck itself into dimension X. April is able to document the turtles' battles with Shredder and Krang and convince some of the skeptics of the turtles' heroism.

So, there you have it. This is the cartoon origin of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and it's about 100 times better than the comics origin (and the movie origin, which was loosely based upon the comics).

The miniseries is available on laserdisc (extremely rare!) and on a collection of 3 VHS tapes titled "Heroes in a Half Shell," "Hot Rodding Teenages" and "The Shredder is Splintered." A somewhat condensed and edited version is available on the VHS tape "The Epic Begins," but it's worth the extra cash to buy the 3 VHS tapes and get the full, uncut miniseries.

After a mighty binge on the Turtles live action films which went from a superb start to utter farce I found myself hankering for more. I had already downloaded the comics to read which are excellent but still, I wanted something a touch more so I decided to relive my youth by checking out the 80's cartoon once more.

I quite honestly expected to maybe watch an episode and a half for a smile and some nostalgia value because I do remember the cartoon being somewhat goofy, but I ended up surprisingly hooked and powered through the first few seasons.

Make absolutely no mistake, this is a children's TV program, made for children and aimed at children. The somewhat immature and innocent plots and situations with a very simply written script enforces this but I actually find there is much to enjoy about the show, even as a 35 year old adult.

The 12 year old boy from 1989 inside me is revelling in much nostalgia and lots of smiles from snippets of dialogue that is familiar but the adult is enjoying the rather splendid artwork and animation. the backgrounds are very detailed what looks like watercolor images (Very typical of 80's cartoon quality) with some moody cut scenes and everything is very well animated and designed.

The plots as stated are fairly simplistic but still rather watchable and I find myself sitting to the end of each episode feeling rather satisfied.

How much of this is nostalgia clouding my adult judgement is unclear but for a children's cartoon that is 26 years old there is much enjoyment to be found here for the young and old.

It really is not surprising that this was a hit of planetary sized proportions back in it's day!

April O Neil was my first crush when I was a little boy. I was born in 1983 and this was formative, don't judge. The rest of the show was also fine.

I'm amazed at how toned down this version is. I've enjoyed some episodes so far. I actually love the relationship between the brothers here than I do in the 2003 version. There's more, "I love you," and "I need you" emotion within their 80s incarnation. I really liked that.

I love a good show with a true family vibe.

April O'Neal's 80s incarnation kind of bugs me though.

I like her 2003 incarnation better.

I like that the Ninja Turtles seem more relaxed in being a ninja and protecting people.

Their 2003 incarnation seemed like they were trying too hard.

Today there aren't really too many outstanding cartoons around. OK I enjoyed Pokemon, and Earthworm Jim was quite cool, but Ninja Turtles rules over both of those. I'm from the UK, so we got Ninja Turtles (called "Hero Turtles" over here because of our pathetic censorship board) a little later than the US. That said, I can still remember how excited I was when this show first appeared: Everyone at school was talking about it. The series was based on the comic book by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. While the comics were very dark and gloomy in some parts, the series was a little more light hearted. This first series is the closest to the comic books. It has a very anime look to it, and uses quite a few different martial arts weapons (something that upset our censors a great deal). This mini series tells how the turtles were created, and also sets up who their enemy is. The fight scenes are well done, but the real fun part of this series is the dialogue between the characters. Overall this mini series is probably the best of all the turtles cartoons (I'm not even going to mention the 2003 version) and I can definitely recommend it to fans and newcomers alike. One final thing: As of now this mini series is only available on American DVD. Make sure you buy the American version, because looking at the episodes shows just how much was cut out of each episode by the UK censors.

It'd it all. A great story, great characters and humour. I just loved the heroes in a half-shell. I hope kids today see the magic of this gem.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) is an iconic show full of nostalgia and has been part of many people's childhoods and adulthoods. Being a big TMNT fan, I have never watched the 1987 show. I have seen clips of it but never watched the whole show from start to finish. The series has 193 episodes split between 10 seasons (seasons 3, 4, and 7 being the longest). The storyline is easy to follow and fun to watch. It's different from the later iterations because I found that this show focused more on the comedy and light-hearted atmosphere (but that changes in seasons 9 and 10) compared to the other shows that focus more on the fighting and tense scenes.

However, due to the age of the show, it's easy to spot animation mistakes. Such as duplicate characters, missing characters, and wrong character speaking. But this doesn't take away from the show but adds charm, and I always found it funny when I spotted a mistake!

If you take your nostalgic goggles off for a few minutes, you'll realise the bucket load of problems this series contains. If you look at it as a nostalgic trip with fun characters and memorable stories then it's fine but as a whole, this is clearly outdated in about every single way and a downright chore to get through.

Back then, this was one of my favourite shows with so many classic episodes and characters that at the time, were really fun and enjoyable to watch. Now, these plot lines and characters are severely flawed and boring. Maybe I'm just too old for this show and expected it to still hold up after many years BUT Batman: The Animated Series STILL holds up after so many years with wonderfully written story lines and characters, so what's this show's excuse?

If you want a summary of the series problems, watch 'Raphael knocks em dead' or 'Shredders mom' or hell, any episode after Season 2! The list literally writes itself.

THE BIGGEST Problem however, is that now there is no need for this series. There have been 2 new TMNT Incarnations on 4Kids and Nickelodeon that are both leagues better than what this show accomplished. The 2012 Series writing rivals that of Nickelodeon's best works such as Avatar or Korra! We have a new and fresh start to this beloved franchise, it's time to let go of these old poorly written characters of the 1987 Series. :(