Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles: Surreal beyond belief

angloconvoy · Post by **angloconvoy** » Wed May 01, 2002 8:34 pm

I bought a few of the hero turtles tapes today from a local cash converters (for those a bit confused hero turtles is the english version of ninja turtles which has anything considered too violent or advocating violence cut, and cash conveters is..well, I guess you'd have to call it a pawn shop wih a big friendly face). As I was watching them I couldn't believe how surreal the wole thing is went over my head as a child. The episodes are cut so much that there are clear jumps of minutes at a time which leads to a generally confusing experience, but what about the content they left in? Baxter stockman's clear nervous breakdown, the connotations about his relationship to shredder, how splinter runs in shame from feudal japan to early 90s america, the general movement of the characters (which is sometimes very well animated but bizzarre, like shredder throwing a tantrum). I'm sure there's more I'm leaving out right now. But possibly the best moment is when splinter walk in on the turles and says "television rots the brain (or something similar),...and promotes violence. Excuse me? Promotes violence? This from the 5 and a half foot rat that taught them ninjitsu, an assassin's art. Bizzarre. But great fun. I would rather watch the ninja turtles cartoons, something which I've never had the pleasure of doing, but I'd urge any of you brits who happen upon an old turtles tape to give it a watch. Although, those of you who indulge in certain..aem...altered realities, I'd advise watching with a clea head, otherwise, it may play wit your mind far too much.

Plasmodium · Post by **Plasmodium** » Wed May 01, 2002 8:36 pm

Interesting.

Jetfire · Post by **Jetfire** » Thu May 02, 2002 12:31 pm

Yeah. I rememebr when it first came on a friend had all the ninja turtles recorded from Sky or America or something and we watched them all in the first few weeks and got into picky commentary to anyone watvhing it on BBC about how much was missed out

Shame it got even mroe babyish in the second series.

I rememebr when they realised the tpb's of the original series. Damn that was good.Shredder got killed on his frist appearence, there was hundreds of Kangs (mostly good as I recall), the turtles got ebat up, April was a realistic 'down beat' character and the art work and storys were very good. A classic of its time. Shame its image was totally warped from the original shape.

angloconvoy · Post by **angloconvoy** » Thu May 02, 2002 10:16 pm

I can't begin to tell you how much there is wrong with the giant rat pacifist ninja assassin driving the big turtle van with laser cannons on top. And Shredder the evil master ninja assasin being afraid of having pizza thrown in his face, or wearing a brown robe over his razor covered suit of armour to disguise himself. I need to find more of these cartoons.

Quick Switch · Post by **Quick Switch** » Thu May 02, 2002 10:19 pm

Yep, Eastman and Laird's comics were pretty darn good. Wish I could get my hands on some now.

The Green Knight · Post by **The Green Knight** » Fri May 03, 2002 2:02 pm

Didn't they edit-out Michaelangelo's nunchaku?

StoneCold Skywarp · Post by **StoneCold Skywarp** » Fri May 03, 2002 8:40 pm

Originally posted by Snake
Didn't they edit-out Michaelangelo's nunchaku?

yup cos it was "too violent" but apparently Swords, Staffs and those pitch-fork stabby things (name escapes me) are all fine and dandy.....

The Green Knight · Post by **The Green Knight** » Fri May 03, 2002 9:23 pm

What weapon did he use then?

StoneCold Skywarp · Post by **StoneCold Skywarp** » Fri May 03, 2002 9:49 pm

Originally posted by Snake
What weapon did he use then?

his incredible sense of humour.....apparently....

Capt · Post by **Capt** » Sat May 04, 2002 12:54 am

from what I remember, in the first couple of seasons, Micky use his nunchaka thingies...
but these were always editted out of the Uk showings (unless ABSOLUTELY necessary) afterwards, he was always seen to use the grappling turtle rope thingy...

I do remember actually seeing the uncut Pilot episodes on Sky once
Including the Ninja Pizza, Ninja Dry Cleaning and Ninja Shoe Shop bits...
2 weeks later it was on Sky movies and cut to ribbons....

when you compared them, the cut one made no sense at all...
one moment walking down the street, next in a pizza shop talking about thing sthat hadn't actually happened..

bloody UK censors

Post by **Sades** » Sat May 04, 2002 7:16 am

'Cause they were.

I can barely remember the cartoons at all, but I do remember watching them a lot as a kid... we've still a couple of toys laying about, too.

... Actually, the only reason I came into this thread was to say what I said in the post title... :rolleyes:

Blaster_86 · Post by **Blaster_86** » Sat May 04, 2002 7:31 am

Originally posted by StoneCold Skywarp

those pitch-fork stabby things (name escapes me)

I'm not sure how to spell it or even if it's right but Sies.
That or Katanna.

The Green Knight · Post by **The Green Knight** » Sat May 04, 2002 3:42 pm

Oh, should have answered this earlier. Katana is the samurai's long blade. The Sai is the fork-shaped weapon in question.

Sixswitch · Post by **Sixswitch** » Sun May 05, 2002 1:52 pm

Originally posted by Blaster_86

I'm not sure how to spell it or even if it's right but Sies.
That or Katanna.

You're right, they're called Sai.

Katanas are the swords that Leonardo used, although the ones he used were too short to be 'proper' katanas, but hey, it's a kids show after all.

-Ss

The Green Knight · Post by **The Green Knight** » Sun May 05, 2002 2:50 pm

And if I remember correctly, they were all straight-bladed, which means they're the standard fictional ninja sword (part of the process of making japanese swords makes the blade curve. So you'd have to make it curving downwards before you put it through its' tempering cycle, and then it would straighten out as it bends upwards. And that was never done in real life.)

Quick Switch · Post by **Quick Switch** » Mon May 06, 2002 3:25 pm

I believe the writers gave Mike a grappling hook (with a turtle motif) to use in combat, when nunchakus were deemed to violent.

I always was struck by how bizarre that was, but censors work in mysterious ways!

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Tue May 07, 2002 11:14 pm

Personally I'd say it'd be because the nun-chuks would be quite easy too imitate - take one kid, two bits of wood and some string, and you get a massive list of parents' complaints... the Sai and Katanna would be hard to copy, and it'd be daft to eliminate a big stick as being too violent... But that's just a guess.

Plasmodium · Post by **Plasmodium** » Wed May 08, 2002 12:07 am

Steak knives, Butcher knives, forks, the whole kitchen utensil set.

Jetfire · Post by **Jetfire** » Thu May 09, 2002 10:53 am

Originally posted by Quicksilver
Personally I'd say it'd be because the nun-chuks would be quite easy too imitate - take one kid, two bits of wood and some string, and you get a massive list of parents' complaints... the Sai and Katanna would be hard to copy, and it'd be daft to eliminate a big stick as being too violent... But that's just a guess.

SO some kid woudlent be able to grab their mums mop or the above listed set of Kitchen knives.

TFARCHIVE FORUMS

Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles: Surreal beyond belief

Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles: Surreal beyond belief

At last, one instance where it's ME saying, "The comics were better"...!