Ninja Turtles - Cowabunga!

Caldwin

Caldwin

Woobie Destroyer of Worlds
Citizen
I got the 2003 TMNT complete series set a while ago. But I had just finished marathoning the 2012 and Rise series. So for one thing I was a bit marathoned out. But then I started getting a backlog of games to get through and blah blah blah.

Anyways, I'm at the point now where I'm kinda waiting for a few things to come in and I guess I can go ahead and start marathoning 2003. There are several issues with doing this however.

1. First and foremost...18 disks...156 episodes....3462 minutes (57.7 hours give or take). It's very likely I will burn out long before I finish this. So, yeah...just saying ahead of time.

2. I've already watched at least a vast majority of these before. It's been a very long time since I've seen them, but I've seen them. So this isn't exactly going to be a fresh look where my reactions are raw and the jaw hits the floor...at least I highly doubt it.

3. These are on DVD. That's all well and good. But I haven't checked them out yet. If they're that center of the screen postage stamp type aspect ratio where I have to stretch it out to fill the screen, I may just call it quits right there.

So yeah, I will finally continue what I had been doing before and start marathoning another series of TMNT. But I reserve the right to stop at any time. Now if I remember right, the first episode is a multi-parter. If so, I'll give initial reactions after I'm done watching it. Until then...TTFN.
 
Caldwin

Caldwin

Woobie Destroyer of Worlds
Citizen
Things Change

Okay, aspect ratio is good...4:3 like I expected. But it's not that annoying middle of the screen thing. And the picture quality is actually pretty good. Thank goodness it lets you skip the opening credits without skipping into the actual episode. This may be interesting to watch.

Hmm, that sweet, sweet Splinter voice. It's been so long I'd forgotten. And this kinda sets the stage for 2003 in a nutshell. The pre-credits opener was a beat for beat remake of the first few pages of issue 1 of the Mirage comic, but then the plot follows the Mousers, Stockman and April which was issue 2. Basically, it's like the cartoon, at least to start out with, followed the comics, but mostly in a broad-strokes way. I'm not judging good or bad here. Just critically noting something that may tend to come into play many times as the series progresses.

Hmm, so I definitely won't be doing a play by play, episode by episode review here. There'd just be too much. But watching the first episode for the first time in years, it was over all pretty good. It definitely draws inspiration the Mirage comics without being beholden to keeping too close as to be a simple remake in cartoon form. And while the personalities were really drawn out the best in the first live-action movies, it feels like this series really solidified it. Mirage Comics had some differences in personalities. But they were all pretty much grim and dark. Fred Wolf had some differences in personalities. But they were all pretty much goofballs. The first movie and then this series really brought out each turtles distinctive traits and solidified them.

The action is...decent. It feels like there's a lot of attacking the camera and then you see the bodies fly across the screen in lieu of actually seeing the contact. And the choreography is pretty basic compared to later iterations. But coming off the Fred Wolf cartoon, it's hard to complain. It's actually pretty good.

Over all, I guess I was afraid I'd come back to this show years later and find out it wasn't as good as I remembered. But first episode, it's still pretty good. I guess now I get to find out if it continues to hold up.
 
Fero McPigletron

Fero McPigletron

Feel the fear!
Citizen
Caldwin said:
I got the 2003 TMNT complete series set a while ago. But I had just finished marathoning the 2012 and Rise series. So for one thing I was a bit marathoned out. But then I started getting a backlog of games to get through and blah blah blah.
Click to expand...
Were there comments written here on Rise?
 
Fero McPigletron

Fero McPigletron

Feel the fear!
Citizen
Caldwin said:
There were whole conversations about 2012 and Rise. They somewhere in this thread. I'm not really up to searching at the moment though. I thought you were in on some of those conversations though, no?
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Must have. Guess I'm forgetting.

(If there were negative comments, it would get a Rise out of me, haha, kidding, hot soup cowabunga ninja time)
 
PrimalxConvoy

PrimalxConvoy

NOT a New Member.
Citizen
Caldwin

Caldwin

Woobie Destroyer of Worlds
Citizen
Caldwin said:
I finally got around to seeing 2012 on Netflix. I'm on episode 14 already. they made Rat King truly horrifying. Leatherhead also looked awesome.

So, tell me again how this was made for kids?
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This is where I started talking about 2012.
Caldwin said:
Rise of the TMNT: brief notes watching the first episode.

Theme song is annoying. Maybe I'll get used to it. But right now, it's obnoxious.

Ugh! After such nicely detailed and textured CGI from the 2012 series, the animation is already hitting me the wrong way.

So, next series, April's going to be an infant? She keeps getting younger. And could they possibly make her sound any more stereotypical? Not too wild about the turtle's designs either. I hope this has a hell of a story plot.

Don't really care for Splinter either.

Aaaaand that was the first episode. This kind of show is what I like to call concentrated ADHD. It's like they want to get all of the ritalin cases all riled up.

Now, I did buy all three seasons, and I do want to be able to say I gave it a fair shot. So I'll keep going for now. But this is not a good start.
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This is where I started talking about Rise.

You were definitely there for the conversations, Fero. But it's been a while. Memory's the first thing to go. 😜
 
Caldwin

Caldwin

Woobie Destroyer of Worlds
Citizen
I can't wait to see it. Last Ronin in particular is an awesome storyline. But TMNT started as a non-kid-friendly comic. So for a studio to actually dare to make a movie that reflects it...

You just know there are parents who won't read the rating, producers who will say the ratings there for a reason and me on the side eating popcorn through it all.

Kinda makes me want to go back and watch Logan again.
 
Fero McPigletron

Fero McPigletron

Feel the fear!
Citizen
Caldwin said:
This is where I started talking about 2012.

This is where I started talking about Rise.

You were definitely there for the conversations, Fero. But it's been a while. Memory's the first thing to go. 😜
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Gasp! You take that back, you! Haha

Anyhow, enjoy 2003 TMNT! It was amazing!
 
Caldwin

Caldwin

Woobie Destroyer of Worlds
Citizen
Well, Casey has now joined the party. There was something about nanites posessing junk and calling a con man its father. It was sad. Hope to continue soon. TMNT is competing with Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy for my time.
 
Fero McPigletron

Fero McPigletron

Feel the fear!
Citizen
Caldwin said:
Well, Casey has now joined the party. There was something about nanites posessing junk and calling a con man its father. It was sad. Hope to continue soon. TMNT is competing with Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy for my time.
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I kinda luv Nano as a character and luv what happens to him. Glad he's a character they didn't forget about. Even if he's not an original comic or classic toon character.
 
Caldwin

Caldwin

Woobie Destroyer of Worlds
Citizen
Caldwin said:
$30? Yeah, I'll be getting it. Never played it before, so I don't know what to expect. But "TMNT arcade brawler" is enough to pique my interest.
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LBD Nytetrayn said:
Be careful on that one. There was a Wii/360 game from Activision back then that was basically that style of game based on this iteration, and it was hot garbage.

Here's a good review of it I managed to find:


And if you collect Nintendo Force magazine, I reviewed it there back when it came out.
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Caldwin said:
Oh, I know not all TMNT brawlers are good. I had TMNT Arcade Attack on the DS and it was borderline unplayable and the graphics were trash.

Still, as stupid as it may be, it's hard to resist something with the TMNT label, even when I know it's garbage. I mean, I own the Bay movies after all.
Click to expand...

So...it wasn't bad per se. The jumping is stiff. Don't know about PS5, but loading time is kinda meh on Switch. I could have done with a few more cut scenes to give me some kind of story. Like seriously, I'm not expecting War & Peace in an arcade game or anything. But the first two arcade games at least gave us something.

Still, for a side scrolling brawler, I've played worse. Like, even in the TMNT realm I've played worse. I'll give it a B-
 

Steevy Maximus

Well known pompous pontificator
Citizen
Apple TV has TMNT shows on sale, all are complete series:
Original Series- $40
2003 (includes Fast Forward and Back to the Sewers)- $25
2012- $25
Rise- $15
 
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