Turtle Tracks- Turtles Forever

Well, it’s that time again. I’m talking about the “Heroes in a Half-Shell” once more. I guess that’s how it is these days. When I've got nothing else to talk about, the turtles come out to play. There’s also another movie coming out featuring the characters and it’s produced by Michael Bay. Yay? I’ll say that I’ve been a little impressed by some of the trailers. I might see it at a matinee, but I don’t know. As long as they get the Turtles right, it could be okay.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), I’m not here to talk about the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Linebackers.” I’m here to talk about a 2009 made-for-TV movie that did something pretty cool. Turtles Forever was a 2009 animated movie that had the 2003 TMNT team up with 1980’s TMNT. It was the franchise’s 25^th anniversary, so someone wanted to do something special.  I want to say I saw it on TV but I may have seen it online somewhere. I recently watched this on YouTube mostly because it was a version not aired on TV.

PLOT

The plot is simple… sort of. Because of an accident, the 1980’s TMNT and their main villains are transported to 2003 TMNT’s universe. When the 2003 TMNT find out that they have doubles running around, they head out and find their lighthearted selves. Meanwhile, the 1980’s Shredder and Krang look for this universe’s Shredder and they revive him. The 2003 Shredder and his Foot Clan end up taking control of the 1980’s villains’ main base, the Technodrome. When Shredder finds out that there is a multiverse full of TMNT, he decides to wipe them all out by going to the original universe and destroying it. Both teams of TMNT and the original TMNT from the Mirage Comics have to stop Shredder from destroy all of reality.

Oh Snap, ya'll! This is definitely an example of Turtle Power!

OPINION

While it’s not perfect, I had a lot of fun re-watching this. I liked the overall story. Yes, the plot may be completely out there, but this is a show about a talking rat teaching 4 talking turtles ninjitsu. The whole show’s already out there. Besides, if you’re used to the normal sci-fi tropes, you might like this. It’s basically Crisis of Infinite Earths done Turtle style! I liked the banter between the two TMNT teams and the original TMNT team. The differences between the two shows are definitely highlighted here from the heroes to the villains. It was also pretty funny.

The animation is pretty nice and the action is good as usual. The voice-acting is good for the most part. The voices from the 2003 series were all-around good. Because of some stupid union dispute, the actors from the 1980’s series couldn’t come back and do the voices here. So, we don’t get Uncle Phil as Shredder and that’s a bit of a bummer. Still, the replacements did a decent job. I think my favorites of the replacement voices were Donatello and Raphael because they really fit the old show.

It looks like the Turtles are shocked about all the slash-fan fiction about them. I know I am!

The cons are few and far between. One major thing fans railed on was the exaggerated goofiness of the 1980’s Turtles. I know it’s been a long time since I’ve seen that show, but I don’t remember any of the Turtles giving noogies to anybody. They also acted a little too absent-minded at times. If anything, all of them (including Leonardo) acted like Michelangelo for most of it. I guess this was done to make the two teams different but it did feel off at times. I also wasn’t pleased with the voice of 1980’s Leonardo. He just sounded too different while the other 1980’s characters were spot on for the most part.

Overall, I really liked this and I definitely recommend it to all TMNT fans (old and new) out there. I don’t know how this newest TMNT movie will fare out. I can at least hope that it’s better than the third movie. Well, I’m out. Peace, God Bless, and “Cowabunga!”