Along with Spider-Man (1994) this was my favorite TV-show when I was a kid. I have watched it in it entirety recently and it holds up even now when I am 23. I'll admit that I was a little displeased with the last two seasons, but aside from that it was great.
This 2003 rendition of the mean, green ninja team is to this day still the one truest to the source material with its darker and more brooding tone and a good use of shading on the characters. Every turtle also gets good character arcs throughout the series fitting their individual personalities which gives them more than just the one-note characteristics we have come to know.
The drama including the turtles themselves isn't the only well rounded character accomplishment, because we're also presented with a Casey Jones whose backstory was finally done right and ties him closely together with Rapael especially but also the Purple Dragons gang lead by Hun. But what tops the 2003 Ninja Turtles is the both frightening and complex Shredder who is not at all like the angry brat in the 80's show. The many forms he takes throughout the show is overwhelming and showcased a variety of designs and incarnations that were both awesome and creative.
The overall look of this show is just great. It may have a darker tone to it, but the animation is both detailed and colourful and once again, the designs of the characters are perfect, but yeah, for some reason they changed the style radically for the last two seasons. I remember something about the show was getting too dark for the producers (and yes, there are a couple of really disturbing moments in season 4 especially), and that they wanted to sell toys.
But still, with the heavy involvement from one of the creators of the Ninja Turtles, Peter Laird, we got far closer to an accurate portrayal of the team whilst still creating new and exciting adventures, and if the entire series had kept the serious tone and the look from the first five seasons, I would have given it a 10, because this is the truest rendition of the Ninja Turtles we'll most likely see in a long time.
This 2003 rendition of the mean, green ninja team is to this day still the one truest to the source material with its darker and more brooding tone and a good use of shading on the characters. Every turtle also gets good character arcs throughout the series fitting their individual personalities which gives them more than just the one-note characteristics we have come to know.
The drama including the turtles themselves isn't the only well rounded character accomplishment, because we're also presented with a Casey Jones whose backstory was finally done right and ties him closely together with Rapael especially but also the Purple Dragons gang lead by Hun. But what tops the 2003 Ninja Turtles is the both frightening and complex Shredder who is not at all like the angry brat in the 80's show. The many forms he takes throughout the show is overwhelming and showcased a variety of designs and incarnations that were both awesome and creative.
The overall look of this show is just great. It may have a darker tone to it, but the animation is both detailed and colourful and once again, the designs of the characters are perfect, but yeah, for some reason they changed the style radically for the last two seasons. I remember something about the show was getting too dark for the producers (and yes, there are a couple of really disturbing moments in season 4 especially), and that they wanted to sell toys.
But still, with the heavy involvement from one of the creators of the Ninja Turtles, Peter Laird, we got far closer to an accurate portrayal of the team whilst still creating new and exciting adventures, and if the entire series had kept the serious tone and the look from the first five seasons, I would have given it a 10, because this is the truest rendition of the Ninja Turtles we'll most likely see in a long time.