First animated series .281987.E2.80.931996.29 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

logo of 1987 cartoon

when little-known playmates toys, inc. approached producing tmnts action figure line, cautious of risk , requested television deal acquired first. on december 28, 1987, tmnt s first cartoon series began, starting five-part miniseries , becoming regular saturday-morning syndicated series on october 1, 1988, 13 more episodes. series produced murakami-wolf-swenson film productions, inc. (later fred wolf films). mirage studios not own rights cartoon series. show places stronger emphasis on humor comics do. here, ninja turtles portrayed 4 wise-cracking, pizza-obsessed superheroes fight forces of evil sewer hideout, , make first appearance in masks color-coded each turtle, had worn red.

the cast included new , different characters, such bebop , rocksteady , neutrinos. original characters such splinter, shredder, , foot soldiers stayed true comics in appearance , alignment only. instead of being hamato yoshi s mutated pet rat, splinter mutated hamato himself. foot soldiers changed human ninjas endless supply of robotic grunts, allowing large numbers of them destroyed without dying (this important decision in terms of show s child audience; excessive violence have alienated parents of children, show s target demographic). krang, 1 of series memorable villains, inspired design of utrom, benign alien race mirage comics. animated krang, however, instead evil warlord dimension x. baxter stockman, race changed black white either due apprehension toward depicting villainous african american character in children s cartoon or shredder boss around black stockman perceived racist. either way, stockman rewritten shy , meek lackey shredder, later mutating anthropomorphic housefly. during final 2 seasons of show, combat rising popularity of mighty morphin power rangers, lead villain switched lord dregg, evil alien overlord bent on world conquest trying distract public believing turtles enemy instead of himself.

starting on september 25, 1989, series expanded weekdays , had 47 more episodes new season. there 28 new syndicated episodes season 4 , 13 of episodes aired in 1990. european vacation episodes not seen in united states until usa network started showing reruns in late 1993 , awesome easter episodes not seen until 1991. these episodes delayed because of animation or scheduling problems. turtles known use of idiomatic expressions characteristic of surfer lingo of time, michelangelo. words , phrases included bummer , dude , bogus , radical , far-out , tubuloso , bodacious , , possibly recognized, cowabunga . on april 21, 1990, drug-prevention television special broadcast on abc, nbc, , cbs named cartoon all-stars rescue featured of popular cartoons @ time; representing tmnt michelangelo, voiced townsend coleman.

starting on september 8, 1990 (with different opening sequence), show began run on cbs. cbs weekend edition ran full hour until 1994, airing few saturday-exclusive episodes back-to-back. also, brief turtle tips segment aired between 2 episodes, served public-service announcement environment or other issues. after 1994, show reduced half-hour , 8 episodes per season produced, grouped cbs action zone block featured wildc.a.t.s. , skeleton warriors, both of canceled after 1 season; though tmnts retained action zone introduction. 2 shows in block produced fred wolf films. series ran until november 2, 1996, when aired final episode. enormous popularity gave rise numerous imitators, including battletoads, cheetahmen, wild west c.o.w.-boys of moo mesa, road rovers, street sharks, extreme dinosaurs, , biker mice mars. currently, 193 episodes available on dvd , vhs.