Ok, having seen Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I can finally give my full opinion of the episodes I’ve seen thus far. Please don’t be offended by my review. I have good things to say and not so good things to say. My opinions have nothing to do with how I view the people who watch it and love it. So please be nice to me and my thoughts...
So, it’s obviously more childish (or I guess meant for children) than it’s previous incarnations, save for maybe the 80s version. This makes watching the show a different experience for me than the previous shows. I wouldn’t say it’s a bad change, but it’s certainly difficult for me to get used. It affects the humor and the story progression, which is more lacking than it’s counterparts. Although, I WILL say that the show can be VERY funny at times. I found myself laughing out loud at certain jokes, whether they were legitimately funny or just shockingly weird. It can also be a bit fast paced, I was having a hard time following what was going on in certain episodes. It’s not helped by the fact that the episodes are only 12 minutes long.
The premise of the show circles around the idea that these strange, mutant mosquitoes have gotten loose on NYC and are randomly mutating individuals, thus provoking mass mayhem for the turts. The boys have also randomly acquired new magical weapons from a weird city underground. I won’t give anymore away, but that’s the most story that’s been provided for the majority of the show. I felt like the idea was kind of out there and hard to follow, but I wish they would’ve shown us more of that underground city. It just seems like a lot happened in the first episode and there wasn’t enough time to show it all. Also, I thought it was kind of random that they just so happened to find new magical weapons conveniently out of nowhere. I wish there was some REASON why that happened. But the idea of the mosquitoes was a nice idea to make more mutants in the city. I’m hoping this will give the turts a chance to make new friends? Maybe?
The boys already know April at the beginning of the show, so I have no idea how they met. I suppose they think we’ve seen enough stories of how they meet so it’s not necessary to show us again. This doesn’t bother me very much, but I do wish I knew how they met and how the turts mutated and whether this Splinter was originally a rat like the 2003 Splinter, or whether he was a human that mutated like the 2012 one. Maybe they’ll show us eventually, but it’s not too irritating as it is.
The new voices are fine, I think they’re doing a great job. But I’m having a REALLY hard time getting used to Raph as the leader. I was very upset when they switched Leo and Raph’s roles and I’m still upset honestly. I feel like they took away Leo’s ONE THING and now he has nothing. It would be like giving Don’s intelligence to Mikey and giving Don nothing back. It’s just awkward. And now I have no idea who Leo even is anymore. I can feel the strangeness while watching the episodes that it feels like Leo’s not even Leo anymore (which he isn’t). I don’t know that I’ll ever get used to it. But I do love the new designs, I also thought it was fun that they changed their species and ages. I’m also very pleased they made Raph huge because I always thought he should be and in the 2012 show they made him SHORTER and I was ANGRY. I love new April too. And honestly, this new Donnie is my new fav Donnie, no lies.
Of all things, the best feature of the new show BY FAR is the animation. It’s as good or possibly even better than the 2003 show which also had fantastic animation. The designs are so angular and pleasing to look at and the FLUIDITY IS AMAZING. Those FIGHTS SCENES. I’M DYING. If you don’t care about anything else about this show, AT LEAST watch it for the animation which is top notch, I’m tellin’ ya.
Overall, I’m not as displeased with this show as I initially thought when I first heard about it. Yes, it’s not perfect. It’s much more... I guess, immature?... than the other shows. There were times that I thought to myself, “why am I even watching this?” Especially watching the episode with the worm. Why did they make an episode about a worm? And I think my desire for a more nitty-gritty-realistic TMNT does affect my judgement somewhat. But, there are good things about the show too, like the animation and DONNIE. It also doesn’t have many episodes so far, so it might get even better over time. I’m hoping Casey will make an appearance someday and that they’ll do better with him in this show than the last one. I think it’s worth giving it a shot. If you’ve never seen TMNT than you won’t have an opinion and it’ll probably just look like a fun little kid’s show. But if you’re an old TMNT fan like me, it might take some more getting used to.
It’s not as bad as I was scared it would be. I actually enjoyed myself watching the episodes, and I guess that’s all that matters in entertainment right? That you’re entertained? And I was entertained.
If you’ve read this far, kudos to you. Thank you for listening.
