It’s such an iconic series
- In the original comic, instead of spelling Michelangelo’s name correctly they added an extra ‘a’ – so his name was spelt as ‘Michaelaneglo.’ This was apparently done to avoid copyright issues
- And continuing on with the names, Eastman wanted to actually name Donatello ‘Bernin’ after the Italian artist and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini but decided that he preferred Donatello because it ended in an ‘o’
- As the turtles are famous for their habit of eating lots of pizza and a very popular series, Domino’s and Pizza Hut went into an major advertising battle. But in the end, Pizza Hut was able to secure a $20 million marketing campaign with the first TMNT movie while Domino’s were the ones who got to have their pizzas in the movie
- When filming the 2014 TMNT movie, it took the crew two hours each day to get the ninja turtle actors into their costumes
- When TMNT first aired in the UK, the title ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ had to be changed to ‘Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles.’ This is because censorship policies declared that the word ‘ninja’ would not be appropriate in a children’s series because of its violent connotations
- The UK also made sure to edit out Michelangelo’s nunchucku because they could only be featured in 18+ movies. So Michelangelo instead used a grappling hook as a weapon in the show
- Shredder was actually inspired by a cheese grater (as was his amour)
- April is thought to have originally meant to have been an African-American woman but her look was later changed to her white skin, red hair and yellow jumpsuit that we know today
- TMNT was just a joke that Eastman came up with. The idea was conceived during a late-night sketching session in 1983 with Eastman’s collaborator Laird. Eastman drew up a sketch of a ninja turtle and showed it to Laird as a joke, who promptly drew a more detailed sketch. In order to not be shown up, Eastman retaliated with more sketches of different turtles before they ended their session and went to sleep
- Originally, Splinter had trained the turtles for the sole purpose of killing Shredder. But this idea was later dropped
Thanks for the facts! I used to be a huge TMNT fan (Raphael for life! Lol!) Too bad the people in the 2014 movie didn’t just save the 2 hrs a day getting into their costumes and not make those movies….
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Hahah that’s too true! Also how did you manage to pick a favourite?! I could never decide…
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Like I said, Raphael for life!! I was a Raph girl myself.. I guess I like them a little angry. 😉
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Turtle Power!!
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Yeah!!! 😀
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I don’t get why Michelangelo’s weapon got censored. They look less deadly than swords.
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Ikr? Some censorship laws are just a bit odd…
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It’s such a rich franchise. I grew with the Hero Turtle era here in the UK and collected the Archie comics around the same time. I still have a soft spot for the old live action films too.
In more recent years, I really enjoyed the Nickelodeon CG series and absolutely love the IDW comics (Raph and Alopex are so cute together!).
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I found I enjoyed the Nickelodeon series more than I thought I would! TMNT is definitely deserving of all the love it gets 🙂
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Absolutely! We were usnure at first too with TMNT, but we gave it a shot after meeting Greg Cipes at a convention. I’m not sold on the character designs or casting for the new one, but to be honest, that just means that i’m likely not the target audience for the new one. Plus, I still have IDW to fall back on 🙂
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I mean, the Nickelodeon series is pitched more for fairly young children so I think that helps explain some of the decisions made for that series… And yep! There’s always the IDW!!! 🙂
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I cetainly get the impression that the newer one that’s coming will be aimed a lower age market. In a way, it seems a shame as the CG Nick series balanced kid friendly with references for adults quite well in my eyes. Still, not to worry. I’m mostly just glad that the franchise is still going and is being introduced to so many new markets as the years go on. For such a silly concept, it’s remarkably enduring!
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Wowza, I didn’t know any of this!
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Really? Yay, I’m glad I didn’t choose really boring facts then! 🙂
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