The reason it seems like there are a lot of little things that are somewhat at odds with the tone of the film is because the final cut was not Steve Barron’s. In the end he was prevented from editing the film and bringing his full vision in the screen. The classic clash between art and commerce.
She used to post regularly on the IMDB board for this movie, so it should be no surprise she's here! Judith, I think it's awesome that you still have such an attachment to this film. It speaks volumes to the love and care that went into the making of this movie.
That makes sense, actually, considering the movie was independently produced at the height of the cartoon's popularity. And in the end, it paid off because the movie was a hit. I have to give the editing team credit: they really did find a good balance between the silliness of the cartoon and the dark satire of the comics.
There's a number of things I like about this specific Re:View... 1) Rich's joy at a franchise he loves. 2) Jay's familiar/knowledgable, yet, emotionally distanced POV. 3) Freddie's knowledge of/anticdotes related to his TMNT work. Just a fun episode.
Rich really does hit the nail on the head. The reason TMNT has stayed so popular is that it’s such a goofy premise that you can go any direction: dark or light hearted, serious or off the wall stupid. And it ALL feels in character and believable.
It reminds me of The Duck Avenger, which is basically what if Donald Duck was Batman. It starts off pretty goofy but as the comics went on it got way darker and more serious and at no point did I stop and think "oh this is getting stupid now" I was all in, it was such a good comicbook series.
As someone who loves basically all turtles media EXCEPT the 80s/90s TV series (and whatever the hell that live action series was), I think the main reason this movie holds up is that it sticks with the more PG tone and general plot of the comics while still keeping a few of the light hearted elements and characterizations from the series. In a way, the first TMNT movie is sort of the gold standard by which other turtles media is measured against because it strikes such a perfect balance between the 2 interpretations that fans from every gen or sphere of the franchise love it. Sort of a prototype of the route the IDW series would take. Shame angry puritanical parents came in and ruined the sequels.
The reason the Turtles were called "Hero Turtles" instead of Ninja Turtles in the UK was that the word Ninja was essentially banned from appearing in movie titles at the time, bizarrely. This followed the craze of ninja films in the 80s that Rich references. This was partly driven by the moral crusade against "video nasties" of Mary Whitehouse (who was also responsible for the word "Chainsaw" being similarly blacklisted) but her focus was more on gory horror movies. The other, probably larger, reason ninjas were banned was that the craze surrounding the films led to a lot of people importing throwing stars and nunchucks. A friend of mine who must have been about 10 had a genuine, razer-sharp throwing star. He took it out and threw it at a telegraph pole, into which it embedded impressively. Unfortunately (or fortunately, really) a few throws later he missed the pole and it soared through a hedge, into a wheat field, and was never found. Anything with nunchucks in was heavily cut by the BBFC, presumably to discourage the spate of idiots smashing themselves in the balls with the things. The Turtles films were cut in the UK because of this, and had much less nunchuck action. I remember at the time we just knew it had been cut, and this led to wild rumours about what the uncut American version contained. Someone I knew claimed to have seen it and painted a vivid picture of multiple beheadings and a turtles on April O'Neill gangbang. Even The Secret of the Ooze was cut! The scene where Michaelangelo uses the sausages as weapons was cut because they looked too much like nunchucks. Arguably the only good thing to come out of the whole video nasty era was a note from the BBFC instructing the filmmakers to "Reduce to a minimum the dazzling display of swinging sausages" although now I think about it, it is possible they were referring to the scene with Splinter on the roof.
@@deadNightwatchman I don't remember that, but it's exactly the sort of nonsense that happened at the time. Did the Babylon 5 episode contain a dazzling display of swinging sausages?
Your friends were telling the truth, sort of. There's no turtles on April gangbang, but there is a sex scene with April and Raphael. It's pretty hot too.
I cam here to post this. To this day Britain has some of the strictest laws regulating nunchuks and other ninja weaponry due to ninjas being a brief subsection of a moral panic.
Freddie and Colin are tied for having the most joyous laughs of all the RLM guests, there's something infectious about them that gets me laughing as well 😂
Honestly, Splinter as a pre-mutation rat practicing Yoshi's moves is one of my all time favorite movie moments. It hits the perfect tone of goofy and awesome!
I've watched this movie nearly 100 times and I never noticed Raph has a scar on his face. I wish a modern Turtles movie would replicate the tone and aesthetic of 1990 Turtles. Those original full-body suits and animatronics still look better to me than any iteration since. This will always be one of my favorite movies.
I'm with you. The turtle costumes were the final creation of Jim Henson's creature shop overseen by the man himself before Henson's premature death at age 53 in 1990, and I think that's an important part of why it's successful. That man understood puppets and how to get emotion out of them as well as anyone alive, and what he created for that movie is definitely more special and long-lasting than any CGI turtle we've seen.
i heard they are creating a life sized muppet of Rich to reduce cost and preserve his likeness for future generations but capturing his laughter has become problematic.
There are also interesting patterns to his childhood interaction with entertainment media. For example, how he was in to the Master of the Universe action figures but not the cartoon (this comes from their Master of the Universe movie commentary track), and how he was into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles original comic more than its cartoon.
This is honestly one of my absolute favorite movies. I just wish they would have talked about the foot clan's hideout. That place was like a 80s-early 90s adolescent/teenagers dream world.
When you look at movies like this and The Dark Crystal, seeing how well Jim Henson's talent translated into more mature settings... it's heartbreaking to think of what he could have given us with more time.
@@jigawatt1.215 Brian Henson did great in Farscape (although it did change somewhat after season 1, Rygel looked less animated and stiffer, but i think they changed puppeteers after season 1), but theres still an odd something missing with all post Jims death work the Henson company does... All the stuff Jim was involved in just has to me at least more life in it, theres a fluidity to it that vanished after he died, but still their the top notch even after he died.
I would love to see a re:view of the Dark Crystal. The Jim Henson and puppetry discussion was really interesting, and it'd be a good movie to go into that more.
I wish I could take credit for the observation but I appreciated it: Someone noted all the turtles are given weapons antithetical to their personalities. Sais are basically really close-in defensive weapons, and they were given to Raphael, the most aggressive of the turtles. Michelangelo is the most carefree and lackadaisical, so he was given the nunchuks, which will hurt the user if they're not used carefully. Donatello is the tech nerd who loves complication, so he gets a wooden stick and made to work with simplicity. And Leonardo is a good guy and most moral/heroic of the bunch, so he was given swords to make him have to use lethal force because sometimes it's what you need. I have no idea if that was intentional writing or not but it makes Splinter come out looking like a genius to make them all have to grow and develop their character and round them out. And ever since it was pointed out to me I notice it in Turtles media.
Would that have been there from the start or would it have been brought in later, I wonder. I haven't read the original comics so I don't know how defined the characters were from the get-go.
In the latest story/comic all the turtles are dead except Mikey. It's explained he was given the chucks as a hinderance since his skill with all the weapons was far superior to that of his brothers. It's also why he's the last one standing in this story arc. It's a grim and sad story but fascinating to read watching the comedic relief of the group become a hardened warrior.
Really late to reply so maybe you have your answer but if not In the original comics all 4 turtles had essentially the same personality and the distinct personalities didn't develop until later on so the distribution of weapons is arbitrary it just is unfortunate as you are right in that they don't match the personalities. I will say that I don't quite follow on questioning why Donatello being intelligent and tech savvy would make a bo staff a simplistic choice.... All 4 have melee weapons. Perhaps swords are more sophisticated but one can do very advanced techniques with a staff. At least that's how I see it
I love that the original film has the turtles outside of their costumes! The guy in the back of the cab, the guy who delivers the pizza, the foot soldier who ‘delivers a message’, and one other extra are all the actors inside the suits.
The worms thing was absolutely hilarious to witness. Freddie in utter disbelief at Rich's recollection as Jay just loses it. Also Freddie's recollection of learning about the worms
Indeed. They always genuinely seem to have a lot of respect for their guests, while perfectly incorporating them into the style with editing (mainly in BOTW episodes). The only episode that didn’t kind of have that completely natural RLM feel was the one with Patton for some reason.
@repentandbelieveinJesusChrist8 So does this mean that after Jesus died, they fed him to the space worms? And that there's a colossus and 4 armed jesus out there for a time?
Freddie's not wrong: Kevin Eastman is an awesome guy, and has managed to stay humble, approachable, and grounded with all his success. Had the pleasure of meeting him on a few occasions (and ONCE was published in Heavy Metal Magazine when he was still overseeing it).
@@TheGoategg1 OMG! Someone knows me on here?! I really thought this was going to be a sarcastic comment. Hahaha! Thanks! I'm shocked. Glad you enjoy them! You just made my day.
@@benjaminfalbo I do, but you'll have to search me. It seems I can't posts links (that's okay--I feel guilty promoting on someone else's content). And I really appreciate the RLM gang. Their content helped keep my spirits up during the pandemic (which is when I started watching). Can't thank them enough. And I was a TMNT fan growing up. Loved this movie as a kid (born in '82), but I think I started with the cartoon. So meeting Eastman was a thrill--only I didn't know it was him. 😅 I was just having a nice convo at the Heavy Metal booth at NYCC. Then he gave me his card and it dawned on me. Again, very cool guy.
This is still one of my all time favorite movies. They got it all right the first time. Family, brotherhood, great suit acting, great voice acting, great script.
Yes, it’s easy to forget with the Michael Bay movies muddying the IP, but this movie was a real movie, with themes, character development, plot. There are no big plot holes and every character is distinct and interesting.
The original movie is so good because they treated the audience mostly seriously. It has some really good themes about adopted familys, the relationships between fathers and sons as well as brothers, and the disconnect between different generations, of youth and adults. It such a good movie.
To expand on the father and son theme, it doesn't just show what healthy masculinity looks like, but also what toxic masculinity looks like, via the self-appointed "alpha male" Shredder. And how easy it is for impressionable youth to fall for the glamour of the latter when they really need the former. Humble little Splinter vs egomaniac Shredder. It's perfect.
@@rabd3721 I wouldnt go so far as calling it toxic masculinity. Shredder was exploiting the youth, and using them for his own goals. Thats not toxic, thats just evil.
One thing they sadly didn't touch on was that the movie had a real theme - fatherhood and growing up. Not only between Splinter and the Turtles, but also between teenage boy Danny and his dad. Even April talks about how she still lives above her late father's antique store and can't part with his things. Man, what a multi-layered movie about humanoid reptiles.
@@_formlessoedon8989turtles are reptiles. Amphibians, frogs for example, have gills in their larval stage (tadpoles) and undergo significant metamorphosis to reach their adult stage. Turtles come out of their eggs looking like tiny adults and just get bigger over time.
Yeah it’s easy to dismiss the movie as a summer popcorn flick, especially today when the IP has been Bayified. But it’s a real movie with actual themes, character development, and plot progression.
The first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie is absolutely priceless. They nailed it. Lighting in a bottle. What's interesting to me is just how much work that movie did to elevate the Ninja Turtle franchise. It made TMNT feel like it had interesting stories to tell. As a kid who only watched the cartoons, seeing that first TMNT movie made me take the cartoon more seriously for much longer than I would have otherwise. I can't praise it enough.
@@lanceareadbhar It depends where they're from. Cricket never really took off in the US but it's huge in other parts of the world. It's pretty big in the UK, Jamaica and Pakistan. I'm from Greece, where it's not particularly popular but people know what it is.
If you never read the comics, find a way to read the first 30 or so, there really were some compelling comic stories in there. My favorite was the down to the river series.
I never felt that way about splinter on the rooftop scene. Instead he looks to me so masterfully in control of the situation because of how calmly he stands there, and all it takes is a slight hand movement to defeat Shredder. For me it really works to show how superior he is and how better his calm, thinking state is over Shredder's rage.
I'm not really sure what these three were smoking. Splinter is just standing up straight with his hands at his hips. They did the best they could with the technology they had. You're supposed to barely see the last exchange with Shredder and Splinter, because that's how fast it goes.
The final scene between Splinter and Shredder is one of the best written final villain scenes I've ever seen. The turtles getting their asses handed to them. Splinter leveraging Shredders rage against him, aikido style. The Shredder risking death so long as he kills Splinter in the process. And Splinters calmness through the whole thing. It all still gives me goosebumps. The reasons the other Turtles movies weren't as good was because Splinter wasn't incorporated as well.
One of the best "condemning villain to death" lines in any movie, too. "Death comes for us all, Oroku Saki. But something much worse comes for you. For when you die, it will be... without honor."
What I love most about the 2012 cartoon is that it used EVERYTHING that had come before it. They used worms. They used the alien triceratops. They used Casey Jones crushing Shredder in a garbage truck. It took all the best stuff from the source material, and was never afraid to get extremely bizzare
Check into the ongoing IDW comic--it uses bits of everything that came before, not just Triceratons and the like, but toys, prior animated shows, the movies, the Archie comics, the Mirage comics....
Agreed, the IDW comics are utterly brilliant, and still led by creator Kevin Eastman. The Last Ronin was one of the best fucking comic books I've read in 20 years.
@@ImmaLittlePip Having watched both series relatively recently, the 2003 version started off really strong. But it kinda fell flat towards the end, right around the part where the turtles went to the future. The 2012 TMNT got consistently better as it went on. And while I do feel the last season wasn't the best, it still ended on a good note.
@@kingofsapi it's because the lost season never aired and 4kids told them that the show got too dark so they had to make it more kid friendly I'd say around s5/6 since fast forward is practically its own show
For some reason this episode is really great in my opinion. It’s full of tidbits and I really like the fact that Freddie and Rich just genuinely love what they are talking about. Fantastic editing as usual! The visual references are fantastic, I love that you added the picture of the sketch on the release form.
For the record, I too get choked up at the Splinter Fire scene. Its a dad saying what he believes is his final goodbyes to his sons, reminding them of his love for them. As both a Dad and a Son, I find that super emotional.
Same, I've watched that movie with my niece and nephew a bunch and I've always had to distract myself or leave the room during that scene cause I didn't want them seeing me tearing up lol
You’re not alone sir as somebody that lost there dad in their early 20’s that scene and the “all fathers care for their sons” resonates with me and now that I’m a dad to a son it’s even bigger. So funny how the origins of this film are in a comic made on a goof but the film is so layered and has a lot of emotions.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who chokes up during that scene. I had a poor relationship with my abusive dad. Seeing a father care that much, to reach out through time and space with the last of his dying strength, to tell his sons he’s proud of them, always hit hard. I grew up wanting that.
Man. Seeing Freddie in studio and knowing he's probably gonna be in the next BOTW is like seeing your parents come home from the mall 2 weeks before Christmas and sneaking an Xbox into the closet.
I worked with the director Steve Barron years ago on something called The Durrells. He had a lot of stories about studio control and how he avoided the edit if he could as it didn’t feel like his movie anymore. It was pretty sad to hear as he was a huge fan. He gave me four original storyboards from the film and said that he wouldn’t sign them as it would only decrease their value.
That Splinter and Raphael scene is one of my favorite movie scenes of all time and probably the most underrated father/son scene in movie history. Telling him to never forget his family and that holding on to his anger will turn to an “unconquerable enemy,” I mean goodness this was in a 90’s TMNT movie 🤯
@@guyincognito959 It 's not about the past, it's about the 90's. If Raphael had exploded into neon squiggles and triangles while a guitar riff played it would have been more appropriate for the time.
Fun Fact: Robin Williams, who was a big fan of the TMNT franchise, provided Judith Hoag with information regarding her character through his comic book collection
@@BillySotherden I found it in the trivia of IMDB, but it’s source is to some local newspaper called Tulsaworld which apparently interviewed the actress at a convention. Whole article was behind a paywall though :/
Jim Hensons The Storyteller. Thank you Jay!! I watched that as a child when sick with flu and always wondered if the hedgehog playing the bagpipes was actually on a TV show or part of my fevered dreams. You've put to rest a 20 year personal mystery.
let me know if im correct cuz i think i just realized that THIS is what i watched as a kid and had nightmares from it that i can still remember. the hedgehog can turn into a handsome man and visits a woman and while he sleeps, she wants to do him a favor and does something, like stitch his coat or something, but she actually screwed up big time cuz now the hedgehog man cant turn back to his handsome man shape anymore and while in his beast form, he goes "what have you done? what have you done?". that moment gave me insane nightmares. that feeling of guilt of having accidentally done something with terrible consequences has psychologically haunted me. is that it or is my rambling totally offtopic?
@@samson6707 haha the video is on UA-cam. You're close to the jist of the story. He can take off his spines at night and is handsome. He tells her if you keep my secret for three nights I'll be a man forever. But the girls mother tells her you must burn the spines. The girls burns them thinking her mother must be right. And (this is the bit that was nightmare fuel) the hedgehog man begins to smoke and scream in pain and is turned to a hedgehog. The episode was about 25 minutes? But still only worth watching if you think it will help to close a chapter in your life like I did haha. Whatever you choose to do with this information. Good luck.
@@studunney7149 thanks for letting me know. i feel relieved already to be able to put this memory in context. this tale really is psychologically traumatizing for a kid. i think i can finally heal now. lol. thanks.
I remember being a wee kiddo pretending to kick my friends in the face when the turtles were all the rage. I have fond memories of crowding around an open manhole where some maintenance guy was doing whatever his job was. One of my friends called down asking him what was down there and we heard him say: "Turtles!" Gasp! "What are they doing?!" "Eating pizza!" Ha ha, bless that guy.
These movies were what the Big Kids watched when I was little. There's something really unique about this era of live-action movies, with dark lighting and rubber puppets. At the time it felt very mysterious and a little bit frightening.
I grew up knowing the original cartoon, but I LOVED the 2003 TMNT. That Nickelodeon series did some incredible stuff, feeling like Batman The Animated Series, and even adapted What Goes Around Comes Around. Solid solid run.
I think this might be my favorite Re View they have done yet. Freddie as a guest, great depth in the convo/chemistry, and an awesome movie to boot. Awesome episode!
I've always liked how the Turtles were characterized by the weapons they were given by Splinter. Mike is the youngest and most erratic of the bunch and has to learn self discipline, so he gets a weapon that needs practice and focus so he doesn't hurt himself. Raph is emotional and aggressive, so he gets a short-range defensive weapon to keep his impulses in check. Don is the smartest, so he gets the simplest weapon, a stick, so he has to use his head to make it useful. And Leo is the leader of the group and gets the only weapon that is lethal by design, so must learn to carefully judge his actions.
It’s a cliché to say, but they truly don’t make them like they used to, and this film is a perfect example. A rare movie that is dark in tone, yet fun , that both adults and kids could enjoy.
I rewatched this movie like a month ago for some reason, i forget why..... no, i remember. Someone told me to read the Last Ronin and i did and it was incredible and it made me want to rewatch the old movie. I forgot how truly good that movie was.
Back when Hollywood still had the talent to pull something like that off. Now all we get are remakes and sequels. Even those are less concerned about telling a good story than they are about pushing certain ideologies. There's very little I enjoy coming out anymore.
Yea at first glance it looks like The Crow and many of the other dark, edgy 90s movies, but it turns it out it’s a movie about four talking turtles and a rat.
My father worked for Konami/Ultra when they made the TMNT games. They started developing based on the comics with the understanding there would be a kids TV show. When they heard the cartoon studio had introduced the rainbow headbands it was like "Too late for the boxes, but we can probably squeeze it into the game."
They had a shelf of random unsolicited stuff that people mailed in... movie scripts, comics, toys, RPGs. TMNT came from that pile. My dad happened to grab TMNT #1 to read on a bio break and was like "This is ridiculous...ly awesome!!!" Before that he worked at Parker Brothers and they had a similar storage room of unsolicited stuff. I got a Buckaroo Banzai promotional headband from that room. Unfortunately a BB game wasn't going to happen because the Atari market had crashed and PB was closing up their video game division.
I think the thing about this movie that all other iterations of the turtles seem to lack is that the turtles really feel like brothers, there's a sincere attempt to make them all feel like family & that for me is what makes this movie one of the best.
OMG yes! Fans of the nick series. Yes the 1990 movie was excellent and the Nick series nails it on so many levels. Absolutely brilliant, haha I'm watching it now and they really do justice to all the characters and stories
Born in 86, so TMNT was my jam from an early age. Had a few episodes on VHS with Pizza Hut commercials beforehand. This movie was like a grownup version of the turtles, which was one of my favorite things to imagine for franchises as a kid, like Power Rangers. This is still one of my favorite movies ever!
@@MellowMutantPlanet Born in ‘88 as well and I’ve seen this movie more than any other in my entire life. I can quote it word for word. I still like to listen to DuPrez’s OST sometimes too, that dark brooding soundtrack was 🔥. This movie made me a TMNT fan for life. Currently binging the 2003 cartoon series on Paramount Plus.
Indeed it is. I actually just got back from watching the new Seth Rogan one and it was pretty garbage. I did like the way it was animated, but that was about it.
This Re:View was a delight, and it was really nice to see all of their enthusiasm and love for the franchise. I'm a decade younger but the cartoons were still very much popular well into the 90s, so I had the same experience as Jay with the cartoons and toys and video games. My mom wouldn't let me rent the movie and I never understood why. I think I finally saw it when I was a teenager and had a...less than favorable reaction to it.
The scene with Raph and Splinter always gets me choked up. I'm glad Freddie mentioned this connection. This movie is SO under rated and a great example of how great practical effects can be.
@@philliphuey231 I think what he means is more, which movies are looked back on as classics from our childhood. TMNT(1990) doesn't seem to get as much love as others.
You guys have no idea how excited I was to see this in my subscriptions. The TMNT are what made me want to be a comic artist as a kid, and this movie is a huge part of that. Plus, Freddie coming back is always rad.
Splinter was my favorite character in the movies, even as a little kid, but that's because he goes from wise sage to "I made a funny". There's a genuine sense that he cares about them, not just physically, but wants to relate to them emotionally.
This movie shocked everyone with how good it was. And one of the Coreys as Donatello was absolutely perfect for that time. And til this day, the movie holds up. Its just a GOOd movie. A solid late 80’s action flick.
Just as I watched that clip of shredder vs splinter, and jay mentions the large number of edits to cover up the crimes on the rat puppet, I realized that those edits have a masterful continuity of motion with the shredder. Nice editing by whoever did that section.
I love that they covered this and am so excited to watch. Corny as it may sound, there's something great in this movie that seems so timely now - the disparity between young men who have guidance and those who don't. Never really thought about it until I rewatched it relatively recently.
So happy that you guys brought Freddie back and it's for one of my all time favorite movies. I'm relieved that the review is so positive because I feel TMNT holds up. When I was a kid I thought they were real, I was 3 ok, and as I got older this movie blew me away. Doing martial arts and stunts in those suits must have been insane. Even with how difficult the movie was to make I'm impressed with the dedication and hard work put in. Also glad that Freddie still gets emotional with Astral Splinter cuz me too. Hope you guys got to hang out for a bit since it's been a while, thanks for this review. 💕🤘
How dare you! Josh is blossoming into a beautiful "high school teacher who is into linux", and I am super into it. Freddie is going more into "What if Patton Oswalt but less depressed" and I am also here to celebrate him.
As we know, Josh the Wizard is the apex of human evolution. Given enough time, all of the human race will have long beards and know way too much about obscure bands.
2 of my favorite tid bits of trivia about the 1st live action TMNT movie are: 1. Barron used pages of the comics to storyboard the movie. 2. Judith Hoag (April O'neil) shot Cadillac Man with Robin Williams at around the same time and when he heard Hoag was April he gave her comics as reference materials. She even invited him and his family to the premire.
@@TheDrunkestSailor looked for an interview with Hoag to confirm and I'm not sure about the part about the sharing comics...BUT she'd never heard of TMNT and when Robin got excited on the set of Cadillac Man (she was doing pre production stuff for TMNT and going to North Carolina and back to Cadillac Man and people asked what she was doing and said TMNT) it was all the approval she needed.
Thanks for this lovely christmas present of sitting listening to you guys talking about one of my favourite films as a kid. So glad it still holds up and the appreciation of how good it was for a silly concept. My biggest shock though is finding out Freddie's never seen The Storyteller. I only watched in later in life but damn that and it's Greek Story 2nd season were amazing and I hope he gets the chance to see them. Great re:View guys and glad after all the trouble you got to finally mate it.
Honestly given how easily filmmakers could have done a cheap effort cash in to take advantage of how big the franchise was, its to the crew's credit at how much real effort there is with the lighting, sets, and even the writing. In general its a surprisingly deeper film than you'd expect a movie made at the height of Turtlemania to be.
I literally rewatched Freddie’s first best of the worst not too long ago, and I thought about how I missed guests like him and Len. Glad to see you back!
The original TMNT is both one of the best and most underrated comic book adaptations ever made. It's unbelievable that this film has never received a decent release in the states outside of a bare bones blu-ray.
That would be awesome. I read somewhere a few years ago that Eastman and one of the producers were attempting to have one put out but couldn't secure a deal. I can't remember the reasoning but it's a shame. I wish they would do a Halloween 2018 style film that disregarded the sequels and picked up in the same continuity as the original film.
@@One21Jiggawatts Eastman has a working relationship with Nickelodeon though. He was somewhat involved with the 2012 animated series and works on the idw series of comics. One would assume he would have some pull but who knows. Maybe nick thinks it's not worth the investment but I think it would sell like crazy.
Thank you for this video. I had lost touch amidst my read through of the IDW run so this helped kick it back up again. Needless to say, hearing TMNT fans talk about TMNT is always a treat.
Watched this with the kids a few weeks ago ... everyone loved it .. each time I watch it over the years the less its flaws bother me and for a kids movie it holds up pretty damn well
Turtles in Time was a huge part of my childhood, and the best thing about the German TV series of the time was the intro - I'm not sure I watched a lot of it, but I certainly remember that to this day ... super iconic.
It's still my favorite movie and my go to when having a bad day. I understood Jay's complaints about the goofy sound effects and wonder if it doesn't bother me because my nostalgia blinds me. This watch made my week and thanks for doing it!
its crazy how stuff from our childhood can hit us so deeply like the fire scene. I cant watch the sandlot without eventually being overcome by emotions of being a kid just playing ball all day ... good stuff, no matter what the topic is, if its done well it will stay with you forever.
Yo, I straight LOVE the first movie, I have great memories of seeing it when it came out in the theater with my sister, I was like 11, but even the old movie veteran I've become has a genuine appreciation for what they pulled off in 1990. Then came the sequels...
@@CSestp Parts of 2 are good, but even though I was a kid I could sense how much cheaper the production was, and I also took major issue with there being a different April O'Neal and no Casey Jones. Or Beebop. Or Rocksteady.
It can not be understated how magical and captivating it felt seeing this movie in the theater at the height of my childhood Turtles obsession. I actually do like the second movie a fair bit, but the original set the bar for this kind of adaptation and I don't think anything has lived up to it since.
It was so good! Saw it with my best friend, we where 8 or 9, we just loved it to bits. Played Turtle action figures and NES after when we got home till we passed out. Oh the good ol days :)
I'm with you, I remember being five or six and thinking the second movie was better at the time. I'd agree the first is almost certainly better looking back but for the target audience it was aimed at the second wasn't a bad movie at all.
the second movie gets way too much flak simply by being in contrast to the first. I love both equally but find myself rewatching the second one in the background more often. I find it to be more light hearted fun, as I'm not always in the mood for drama. the ooze story was a great premise too. the third movie however... we don't talk about the third movie...
I highly disagree with some of the comments here like "awkwardly fighting in rubber suits". No, the fighting is fantastic considering how heavy and hot the costumes were. Or "they could barely do the turtles". No, the articulation, movement and expression in their faces is pretty damn flawless. This movie was the PERFECT blend of the comics and cartoon. Dark but funny. Violent but bloodless. Just an absolute 10/10 that still holds up today.
I was talking to a friend of mine who didn't like the movie much (but loved the del Toro Hellboy films) and I tried to explain that the TMNT movie had similar budget/technological constraints for the time, and they got pretty pissed off with me for making the comparison
Excellent review, although I was a little disappointed that while discussing the dark tone of the film they didn't once bring up the role that the real life backdrop of crime-ridden late 80s/early 90s NYC played in creating that atmosphere, or how the entire Foot Clan in the movie is basically just an underground gang of disaffected teens and young adults that Shredder is using and exploiting for his own ambitions. The scenes with Danny and Splinter are just as emotional and hit just as hard as the farmhouse portion of the film, especially near the end where they rescue Splinter and he emphatically tells the others how they have all been manipulated by Shredder. That really hit home on alot of levels seeing something like that in a "kids" film back in the day.
My Dad took me to see this film when I was a kid. For him, it was just a kids movie, but he was surprised by how wise Splinter was and he found himself nodding along to the things Splinter said 😂
I was supposed to go see the movie when it first came out but I lied to my parents about doing my chores (weeding the garden) and I didn't get to go with everyone and I cried but then later my parents took me and I was so stoked!
For me, my parents didn't want any part of it. So I was dropped off at the local theater. And I waited in such a long line, that I missed the 5pm showing. And had to watch it at around 9pm. And then for my birthday, I got the VHS of the movie the following year! But I got into TMNT from a friend, who was a fan of the comics. And then after the movie, I watched the cartoon and bought all the toys.
Same, my dad was a bit mad that they were showing punk kids getting away with shit (mostly smoking), and then when Splinter came around he was all nodding and doing these awkward looks at me as if I needed take that as an example instead of mohawks, smoking, tattoos and skateboards. I also have bad news regarding that.
I could go on for hours about this movie. At every phase of my growing up, I could return to it and find a new aspect of it that I enjoyed. Decades later, it is still in my mind not just a good TMNT movie, or a good comic book movie, it's just a legitimately great film full of various forms of artistry that I'm glad got made the way it did.
Guy's, I just want to say that I really appreciate what you do. It brings me genuine happiness to see a new Red Letter Media video appear on UA-cam. I know you probably think you're not doing much, but thank you. From the bottom of my heart.
I never noticed before what you guys were saying about the faces being entirely static when a turtle is doing stunts! Also, while that by itself is crazy, the more interesting part of that to me is that when the turtles' faces are torqued up into a grimace/scowl like that, they're sculpted into an almost-perfect recreation of faces that would have been drawn by Eatman/Laird or Jim Lawson.
Knowing Freddy drew the famous “This is where my parents died Raphael” blows my mind.
Holy shit, I never made that connection. That's amazing lol
tHiS iS wHeRe YoUr PaReNtS dIeD, *OOPS OOPS*
Michaelangelo
"Cowabummer"
This is where I watched my parents die, Parappa.
Freddie's astonishment at Rich Evans remembering how Shredder came back was incredible
That was priceless, He loudly gasped lmao
Also his joy at Rich's introduction to TMNT being his favorite issue of the comic.
This video was more about those two bonding than the movie.
@@ArchHippy it's about family. That's what's so powerful about it
Happens around 12:25 onward if you want to see it.
The reason it seems like there are a lot of little things that are somewhat at odds with the tone of the film is because the final cut was not Steve Barron’s. In the end he was prevented from editing the film and bringing his full vision in the screen. The classic clash between art and commerce.
Holy shit, it's Judith Hoag!
Judith Hoag! The only April! 💚
Whaaat?! OG April in the comment section
She used to post regularly on the IMDB board for this movie, so it should be no surprise she's here! Judith, I think it's awesome that you still have such an attachment to this film. It speaks volumes to the love and care that went into the making of this movie.
That makes sense, actually, considering the movie was independently produced at the height of the cartoon's popularity. And in the end, it paid off because the movie was a hit. I have to give the editing team credit: they really did find a good balance between the silliness of the cartoon and the dark satire of the comics.
There's a number of things I like about this specific Re:View...
1) Rich's joy at a franchise he loves.
2) Jay's familiar/knowledgable, yet, emotionally distanced POV.
3) Freddie's knowledge of/anticdotes related to his TMNT work.
Just a fun episode.
Jay also checked his box of "notices a hyper-specific detail that shows up only for a couple seconds that nobody else caught"
Freddie knowing one of the co-creators was a holy shit moment
anti what??
@@connor4wilson Also checked his box of "knows the name of an actress everyone else only knows from that one movie".
Anecdotes?
Rich really does hit the nail on the head. The reason TMNT has stayed so popular is that it’s such a goofy premise that you can go any direction: dark or light hearted, serious or off the wall stupid. And it ALL feels in character and believable.
That and - or - but
It's heart IS Father and Sons.
The Bond of Brothers.
Family and Helping Others.
well that plus ninjas
It reminds me of The Duck Avenger, which is basically what if Donald Duck was Batman. It starts off pretty goofy but as the comics went on it got way darker and more serious and at no point did I stop and think "oh this is getting stupid now" I was all in, it was such a good comicbook series.
As someone who loves basically all turtles media EXCEPT the 80s/90s TV series (and whatever the hell that live action series was), I think the main reason this movie holds up is that it sticks with the more PG tone and general plot of the comics while still keeping a few of the light hearted elements and characterizations from the series.
In a way, the first TMNT movie is sort of the gold standard by which other turtles media is measured against because it strikes such a perfect balance between the 2 interpretations that fans from every gen or sphere of the franchise love it. Sort of a prototype of the route the IDW series would take.
Shame angry puritanical parents came in and ruined the sequels.
Very similar to Batman in that way, I think.
The reason the Turtles were called "Hero Turtles" instead of Ninja Turtles in the UK was that the word Ninja was essentially banned from appearing in movie titles at the time, bizarrely. This followed the craze of ninja films in the 80s that Rich references. This was partly driven by the moral crusade against "video nasties" of Mary Whitehouse (who was also responsible for the word "Chainsaw" being similarly blacklisted) but her focus was more on gory horror movies.
The other, probably larger, reason ninjas were banned was that the craze surrounding the films led to a lot of people importing throwing stars and nunchucks. A friend of mine who must have been about 10 had a genuine, razer-sharp throwing star. He took it out and threw it at a telegraph pole, into which it embedded impressively. Unfortunately (or fortunately, really) a few throws later he missed the pole and it soared through a hedge, into a wheat field, and was never found.
Anything with nunchucks in was heavily cut by the BBFC, presumably to discourage the spate of idiots smashing themselves in the balls with the things. The Turtles films were cut in the UK because of this, and had much less nunchuck action. I remember at the time we just knew it had been cut, and this led to wild rumours about what the uncut American version contained. Someone I knew claimed to have seen it and painted a vivid picture of multiple beheadings and a turtles on April O'Neill gangbang.
Even The Secret of the Ooze was cut! The scene where Michaelangelo uses the sausages as weapons was cut because they looked too much like nunchucks. Arguably the only good thing to come out of the whole video nasty era was a note from the BBFC instructing the filmmakers to "Reduce to a minimum the dazzling display of swinging sausages" although now I think about it, it is possible they were referring to the scene with Splinter on the roof.
Thank you! I was going to write something similar. Even an episode of Babylon 5 was banned, wasn't it? Because it focused on martial arts?
@@deadNightwatchman I don't remember that, but it's exactly the sort of nonsense that happened at the time. Did the Babylon 5 episode contain a dazzling display of swinging sausages?
@@morganfellows8182 Unfortunately not. But it focused on kickboxing. Title is "TKO".
Your friends were telling the truth, sort of. There's no turtles on April gangbang, but there is a sex scene with April and Raphael. It's pretty hot too.
I cam here to post this. To this day Britain has some of the strictest laws regulating nunchuks and other ninja weaponry due to ninjas being a brief subsection of a moral panic.
Of all the guests over the years, I think I've missed Freddie the most. So happy to see him return!
I want to see more episodes with Simon Barrett
I miss Mac a lot, it honestly felt like he was gonna be a guest as frequently as the canadians for a bit there
Him and the Canadians are my favorite
Achupachawa
Freddie and Colin are tied for having the most joyous laughs of all the RLM guests, there's something infectious about them that gets me laughing as well 😂
Honestly, Splinter as a pre-mutation rat practicing Yoshi's moves is one of my all time favorite movie moments. It hits the perfect tone of goofy and awesome!
My favourite part is the high kick with one of his tiny little rat legs.
I watched it a few months ago with my daughters... They made me replay that part like 50 times... So damn classic...
that whole montage is perfect. the music is very fun. i always loved impersonating splinter's lines like "four baby turtles!"
It also was really sweet when after Yoshi was killed, Splinter held his master’s hand with his tiny rat paws 🐾
@@yockey I love when Splinter says that line 😊
I've watched this movie nearly 100 times and I never noticed Raph has a scar on his face. I wish a modern Turtles movie would replicate the tone and aesthetic of 1990 Turtles. Those original full-body suits and animatronics still look better to me than any iteration since. This will always be one of my favorite movies.
I'm with you. The turtle costumes were the final creation of Jim Henson's creature shop overseen by the man himself before Henson's premature death at age 53 in 1990, and I think that's an important part of why it's successful. That man understood puppets and how to get emotion out of them as well as anyone alive, and what he created for that movie is definitely more special and long-lasting than any CGI turtle we've seen.
There ok but definitely not the best
@@Therealones745what's the best then?
@@Therealones745What is better?
Of all the guests over the years, I think I've missed Rich Evans the most. So happy to see him return!
I can't believe they can even afford him these days
@@Tukenfarben indeed. His worth as THE Dick the Birthday Boy from Ellen has really improved his star power.
i heard they are creating a life sized muppet of Rich to reduce cost and preserve his likeness for future generations but capturing his laughter has become problematic.
SpaceCop himself! what a fuckin legend!
Rich is so humble that even though he has become an internet superstar he still finds time to visit those hack frauds Mike and Jay.
Stories from Rich’s childhood always feel like relics: precious, rare pieces of history.
Yes the 1920s were a special time and I appreciate getting to learn what life was like back then.
His story about seeing the first car ever made as a teenager will always be a classic
i too enjoy learning about the jurassic era
Let's say he has seen a lot of warhammer collections
There are also interesting patterns to his childhood interaction with entertainment media. For example, how he was in to the Master of the Universe action figures but not the cartoon (this comes from their Master of the Universe movie commentary track), and how he was into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles original comic more than its cartoon.
This is honestly one of my absolute favorite movies. I just wish they would have talked about the foot clan's hideout. That place was like a 80s-early 90s adolescent/teenagers dream world.
But can you stump Johnny Arcade by putting Johnny on the spot?
@@codyguindon2090 You can't stump the master.
As far as I can tell, Shredder's master plan was to establish an illegitimate Dave & Buster's.
Yasss! I loved both the foot's hideout and the turtles' hideout. II was worse than I for sure, but the turtles' hideout was amazing in that one!
Reminds me of pleasure island in pinnochio
Really happy to have Freddie Williams back. One of my favourite guests. Very cool
Voy cueg
i have nothing of worth to provide to this conversation so instead i will say "nice ænima pfp" like a loser
Me personally? I love Freddie Williams. And you know what that means, a new BOTW episode with him soon I'm sure!
Me personally? I loved this video
A new BOTW with him is all I want for Christmas
When you look at movies like this and The Dark Crystal, seeing how well Jim Henson's talent translated into more mature settings... it's heartbreaking to think of what he could have given us with more time.
to live in a world where Peter Jackson asked for his help making Lord of the Rings.
…. or working on freaking Harry Potter even 😢
Yea, that was the first celebrity death that hit me on a personal level as a kid. Labyrinth, The Witches, The Storyteller, Jim Henson was magical.
Well he shoulda seen a fucking doctor!
They did lend their talents to Farscape which does have more mature a dark tones sometimes.
@@jigawatt1.215 Brian Henson did great in Farscape (although it did change somewhat after season 1, Rygel looked less animated and stiffer, but i think they changed puppeteers after season 1), but theres still an odd something missing with all post Jims death work the Henson company does... All the stuff Jim was involved in just has to me at least more life in it, theres a fluidity to it that vanished after he died, but still their the top notch even after he died.
I would love to see a re:view of the Dark Crystal. The Jim Henson and puppetry discussion was really interesting, and it'd be a good movie to go into that more.
But given how Jay goes on about this being darker than what Jim Henson is known for makes me wonder if he drinks Wilkin's Coffee.
There is a version in the weird fantasy language and subtitled out there which is supposedly darker - though I have never watched it.
That would be awesome
I wish I could take credit for the observation but I appreciated it: Someone noted all the turtles are given weapons antithetical to their personalities. Sais are basically really close-in defensive weapons, and they were given to Raphael, the most aggressive of the turtles. Michelangelo is the most carefree and lackadaisical, so he was given the nunchuks, which will hurt the user if they're not used carefully. Donatello is the tech nerd who loves complication, so he gets a wooden stick and made to work with simplicity. And Leonardo is a good guy and most moral/heroic of the bunch, so he was given swords to make him have to use lethal force because sometimes it's what you need.
I have no idea if that was intentional writing or not but it makes Splinter come out looking like a genius to make them all have to grow and develop their character and round them out. And ever since it was pointed out to me I notice it in Turtles media.
Would that have been there from the start or would it have been brought in later, I wonder. I haven't read the original comics so I don't know how defined the characters were from the get-go.
In the latest story/comic all the turtles are dead except Mikey. It's explained he was given the chucks as a hinderance since his skill with all the weapons was far superior to that of his brothers. It's also why he's the last one standing in this story arc. It's a grim and sad story but fascinating to read watching the comedic relief of the group become a hardened warrior.
Really late to reply so maybe you have your answer but if not In the original comics all 4 turtles had essentially the same personality and the distinct personalities didn't develop until later on so the distribution of weapons is arbitrary it just is unfortunate as you are right in that they don't match the personalities.
I will say that I don't quite follow on questioning why Donatello being intelligent and tech savvy would make a bo staff a simplistic choice.... All 4 have melee weapons. Perhaps swords are more sophisticated but one can do very advanced techniques with a staff. At least that's how I see it
I love that the original film has the turtles outside of their costumes! The guy in the back of the cab, the guy who delivers the pizza, the foot soldier who ‘delivers a message’, and one other extra are all the actors inside the suits.
Unless I'm mistaken, the guy in the cab is also Raph's voice actor as well as suit performer. He's the only one of the voices who also wears the suit.
This is dope
This pairs so well with their background extra bit. Red Letter Media is inexplicable.
Isn't the "message" just a slap to April's face? 😂
@@cabe3231 He adds 'SHUT IT!', but that's basically it.
But he actually has quite a few lines, and you can hear his accent despite wearing the mask!
The worms thing was absolutely hilarious to witness. Freddie in utter disbelief at Rich's recollection as Jay just loses it. Also Freddie's recollection of learning about the worms
The Red Letter Media guys are such good interviewers. They don't interrupt people too much and always build off what someone just said.
Fr. Memes aside their conversations on film are incredibly entertaining to watch because of that
Definitely .....👌
Indeed. They always genuinely seem to have a lot of respect for their guests, while perfectly incorporating them into the style with editing (mainly in BOTW episodes). The only episode that didn’t kind of have that completely natural RLM feel was the one with Patton for some reason.
@repentandbelieveinJesusChrist8 So does this mean that after Jesus died, they fed him to the space worms?
And that there's a colossus and 4 armed jesus out there for a time?
@repentandbelieveinJesusChrist8 A wonderful tribute to His Excellency Dnus Ecclae B. BB. Rich Evans.
Freddie's not wrong: Kevin Eastman is an awesome guy, and has managed to stay humble, approachable, and grounded with all his success. Had the pleasure of meeting him on a few occasions (and ONCE was published in Heavy Metal Magazine when he was still overseeing it).
Wait, you're not actually J.M. DeSantis from the Chadhiyana comics, right?
If you are, those comics rock
@@TheGoategg1 OMG! Someone knows me on here?! I really thought this was going to be a sarcastic comment. Hahaha! Thanks! I'm shocked. Glad you enjoy them! You just made my day.
@@jmdesantis This is so wholesome and genuinely made me smile. Do you have an online archive/portfolio?
Kevin Westman, on the other hand...
@@benjaminfalbo I do, but you'll have to search me. It seems I can't posts links (that's okay--I feel guilty promoting on someone else's content). And I really appreciate the RLM gang. Their content helped keep my spirits up during the pandemic (which is when I started watching). Can't thank them enough.
And I was a TMNT fan growing up. Loved this movie as a kid (born in '82), but I think I started with the cartoon. So meeting Eastman was a thrill--only I didn't know it was him. 😅 I was just having a nice convo at the Heavy Metal booth at NYCC. Then he gave me his card and it dawned on me. Again, very cool guy.
I could listen to Freddie explain the engineering of a clock radio. Such an eloquent man, always a delight to have him on.
This is still one of my all time favorite movies. They got it all right the first time.
Family, brotherhood, great suit acting, great voice acting, great script.
And soundtrack. I still get chills when the turtles fight shredder at the end and that music kicks in.
Yes, it’s easy to forget with the Michael Bay movies muddying the IP, but this movie was a real movie, with themes, character development, plot. There are no big plot holes and every character is distinct and interesting.
I loved it as a kid. Took a break and was blown away as an adult. It is amazing how good it is.
For a moment I thought you were talking about Space Cop
As a kid, Secret of the Ooze was my favorite. As an adult, the first one is clearly superior and still holds up.
The original movie is so good because they treated the audience mostly seriously. It has some really good themes about adopted familys, the relationships between fathers and sons as well as brothers, and the disconnect between different generations, of youth and adults. It such a good movie.
It's about familiy really, that's what makes it so powerful.
Master splinter and Optimus prime were like surrogate dads for a generation of us who had a shitty dad or no dad
@@the-craig Oh-shit, you are right...me and my brother was in that situation too.
To expand on the father and son theme, it doesn't just show what healthy masculinity looks like, but also what toxic masculinity looks like, via the self-appointed "alpha male" Shredder. And how easy it is for impressionable youth to fall for the glamour of the latter when they really need the former.
Humble little Splinter vs egomaniac Shredder. It's perfect.
@@rabd3721 I wouldnt go so far as calling it toxic masculinity. Shredder was exploiting the youth, and using them for his own goals. Thats not toxic, thats just evil.
My biggest takeaway is how versatile an artist Frank Miller is.
I didn't know he wrote the lyrics to Go Ninja Go! Truly a renaissance man of our time!
One thing they sadly didn't touch on was that the movie had a real theme - fatherhood and growing up. Not only between Splinter and the Turtles, but also between teenage boy Danny and his dad. Even April talks about how she still lives above her late father's antique store and can't part with his things. Man, what a multi-layered movie about humanoid reptiles.
That's the kicker, I'll rewatch it later.. haven't seen it since I was a wee lad
calling it now, this is an under appreciated comment, but solid gold nonetheless
Awesome comment; Turtles are amphibians, bringing this up now to take the wind out of the sales of everyone else who can't wait to enlighten us all.
@@_formlessoedon8989turtles are reptiles. Amphibians, frogs for example, have gills in their larval stage (tadpoles) and undergo significant metamorphosis to reach their adult stage. Turtles come out of their eggs looking like tiny adults and just get bigger over time.
Yeah it’s easy to dismiss the movie as a summer popcorn flick, especially today when the IP has been Bayified. But it’s a real movie with actual themes, character development, and plot progression.
The first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie is absolutely priceless. They nailed it. Lighting in a bottle. What's interesting to me is just how much work that movie did to elevate the Ninja Turtle franchise. It made TMNT feel like it had interesting stories to tell. As a kid who only watched the cartoons, seeing that first TMNT movie made me take the cartoon more seriously for much longer than I would have otherwise. I can't praise it enough.
Agreed. It was also educational as I assume most kids had never heard of cricket.
@@lanceareadbhar
It depends where they're from.
Cricket never really took off in the US
but it's huge in other parts of the world.
It's pretty big in the UK, Jamaica and Pakistan.
I'm from Greece, where it's not particularly popular
but people know what it is.
im with you
Too true.
If you never read the comics, find a way to read the first 30 or so, there really were some compelling comic stories in there. My favorite was the down to the river series.
I never felt that way about splinter on the rooftop scene. Instead he looks to me so masterfully in control of the situation because of how calmly he stands there, and all it takes is a slight hand movement to defeat Shredder. For me it really works to show how superior he is and how better his calm, thinking state is over Shredder's rage.
I'm not really sure what these three were smoking. Splinter is just standing up straight with his hands at his hips. They did the best they could with the technology they had. You're supposed to barely see the last exchange with Shredder and Splinter, because that's how fast it goes.
The final scene between Splinter and Shredder is one of the best written final villain scenes I've ever seen. The turtles getting their asses handed to them. Splinter leveraging Shredders rage against him, aikido style. The Shredder risking death so long as he kills Splinter in the process. And Splinters calmness through the whole thing. It all still gives me goosebumps. The reasons the other Turtles movies weren't as good was because Splinter wasn't incorporated as well.
Nailed it! I totally agree. Splinter handles shredder exactly how a wizened old Zen master would, with serene calm.
One of the best "condemning villain to death" lines in any movie, too.
"Death comes for us all, Oroku Saki. But something much worse comes for you. For when you die, it will be... without honor."
@@damkylan3 And then Casey Jones just nonchalantly grabs the operating lever of the truck and goes, "Oops!"
@@bigjohnsbreakfastlog5819 Casey Jones. What an absolute MAD LAD.
Haha! I made a funny!
What I love most about the 2012 cartoon is that it used EVERYTHING that had come before it. They used worms. They used the alien triceratops. They used Casey Jones crushing Shredder in a garbage truck. It took all the best stuff from the source material, and was never afraid to get extremely bizzare
Check into the ongoing IDW comic--it uses bits of everything that came before, not just Triceratons and the like, but toys, prior animated shows, the movies, the Archie comics, the Mirage comics....
Agreed, the IDW comics are utterly brilliant, and still led by creator Kevin Eastman. The Last Ronin was one of the best fucking comic books I've read in 20 years.
I argue that the 2003 series did it better and arguably was extremely faithful to the comics but the 2013 series is a great show too
@@ImmaLittlePip Having watched both series relatively recently, the 2003 version started off really strong. But it kinda fell flat towards the end, right around the part where the turtles went to the future. The 2012 TMNT got consistently better as it went on. And while I do feel the last season wasn't the best, it still ended on a good note.
@@kingofsapi it's because the lost season never aired and 4kids told them that the show got too dark so they had to make it more kid friendly I'd say around s5/6 since fast forward is practically its own show
For some reason this episode is really great in my opinion. It’s full of tidbits and I really like the fact that Freddie and Rich just genuinely love what they are talking about. Fantastic editing as usual! The visual references are fantastic, I love that you added the picture of the sketch on the release form.
For the record, I too get choked up at the Splinter Fire scene.
Its a dad saying what he believes is his final goodbyes to his sons, reminding them of his love for them. As both a Dad and a Son, I find that super emotional.
Same, I've watched that movie with my niece and nephew a bunch and I've always had to distract myself or leave the room during that scene cause I didn't want them seeing me tearing up lol
You’re not alone sir as somebody that lost there dad in their early 20’s that scene and the “all fathers care for their sons” resonates with me and now that I’m a dad to a son it’s even bigger.
So funny how the origins of this film are in a comic made on a goof but the film is so layered and has a lot of emotions.
Gets me everytime, this movie is almost perfect in the sense it has everything: action, emotion, and it funny. It still holds up pretty good today
I’m glad I’m not the only one who chokes up during that scene. I had a poor relationship with my abusive dad. Seeing a father care that much, to reach out through time and space with the last of his dying strength, to tell his sons he’s proud of them, always hit hard. I grew up wanting that.
It's really a testament to the fact that the movie was played seriously, that you don't even realize it's a giant rat taking to 4 giant turtles.
Man. Seeing Freddie in studio and knowing he's probably gonna be in the next BOTW is like seeing your parents come home from the mall 2 weeks before Christmas and sneaking an Xbox into the closet.
I too am excited for him to be in the next Breath of the Wild
@@Gamxin He’s gonna be the concept artist. And in it.
Oh man, I didn’t even think of that. That will be great! I think he and Len might be the best BOTW guests
I worked with the director Steve Barron years ago on something called The Durrells. He had a lot of stories about studio control and how he avoided the edit if he could as it didn’t feel like his movie anymore. It was pretty sad to hear as he was a huge fan. He gave me four original storyboards from the film and said that he wouldn’t sign them as it would only decrease their value.
That Splinter and Raphael scene is one of my favorite movie scenes of all time and probably the most underrated father/son scene in movie history. Telling him to never forget his family and that holding on to his anger will turn to an “unconquerable enemy,” I mean goodness this was in a 90’s TMNT movie 🤯
It is almost as if people in the past knew about morale and Star Wars:D
@@guyincognito959 It 's not about the past, it's about the 90's. If Raphael had exploded into neon squiggles and triangles while a guitar riff played it would have been more appropriate for the time.
@@guyincognito959 I don't think you know what "morale" means.
Fun Fact: Robin Williams, who was a big fan of the TMNT franchise, provided Judith Hoag with information regarding her character through his comic book collection
I love her April. 👏
Man i miss him so much, that's a celeb death i will never get over
@@BillySotherden I found it in the trivia of IMDB, but it’s source is to some local newspaper called Tulsaworld which apparently interviewed the actress at a convention. Whole article was behind a paywall though :/
@@BillySotherden It's certainly possible. Hoag did Cadillac Man with Williams which came out only 2 months after TMNT.
@@BillySotherden I don't like your tone here
Jim Hensons The Storyteller.
Thank you Jay!! I watched that as a child when sick with flu and always wondered if the hedgehog playing the bagpipes was actually on a TV show or part of my fevered dreams.
You've put to rest a 20 year personal mystery.
RLM solves many such mysteries.
let me know if im correct cuz i think i just realized that THIS is what i watched as a kid and had nightmares from it that i can still remember. the hedgehog can turn into a handsome man and visits a woman and while he sleeps, she wants to do him a favor and does something, like stitch his coat or something, but she actually screwed up big time cuz now the hedgehog man cant turn back to his handsome man shape anymore and while in his beast form, he goes "what have you done? what have you done?". that moment gave me insane nightmares. that feeling of guilt of having accidentally done something with terrible consequences has psychologically haunted me. is that it or is my rambling totally offtopic?
@@samson6707 haha the video is on UA-cam. You're close to the jist of the story. He can take off his spines at night and is handsome. He tells her if you keep my secret for three nights I'll be a man forever. But the girls mother tells her you must burn the spines. The girls burns them thinking her mother must be right. And (this is the bit that was nightmare fuel) the hedgehog man begins to smoke and scream in pain and is turned to a hedgehog. The episode was about 25 minutes? But still only worth watching if you think it will help to close a chapter in your life like I did haha. Whatever you choose to do with this information. Good luck.
I feel so relieved for you!
@@studunney7149 thanks for letting me know. i feel relieved already to be able to put this memory in context. this tale really is psychologically traumatizing for a kid. i think i can finally heal now. lol. thanks.
I remember being a wee kiddo pretending to kick my friends in the face when the turtles were all the rage. I have fond memories of crowding around an open manhole where some maintenance guy was doing whatever his job was. One of my friends called down asking him what was down there and we heard him say: "Turtles!" Gasp! "What are they doing?!" "Eating pizza!" Ha ha, bless that guy.
Replace "pretending" with "actually kicked" and you'll understand why I'm still grounded well in to my late 30s
As of this writing, 23 people have liked this comment and not one of them has made a Manhole joke yet
These movies were what the Big Kids watched when I was little. There's something really unique about this era of live-action movies, with dark lighting and rubber puppets. At the time it felt very mysterious and a little bit frightening.
I grew up knowing the original cartoon, but I LOVED the 2003 TMNT. That Nickelodeon series did some incredible stuff, feeling like Batman The Animated Series, and even adapted What Goes Around Comes Around. Solid solid run.
Def the most comic accurate cartoon
I think this might be my favorite Re View they have done yet. Freddie as a guest, great depth in the convo/chemistry, and an awesome movie to boot. Awesome episode!
I've always liked how the Turtles were characterized by the weapons they were given by Splinter.
Mike is the youngest and most erratic of the bunch and has to learn self discipline, so he gets a weapon that needs practice and focus so he doesn't hurt himself.
Raph is emotional and aggressive, so he gets a short-range defensive weapon to keep his impulses in check.
Don is the smartest, so he gets the simplest weapon, a stick, so he has to use his head to make it useful.
And Leo is the leader of the group and gets the only weapon that is lethal by design, so must learn to carefully judge his actions.
What are you smoking?
@@xRagma better shit than whatever you got that's for sure
@@xRagma I don't know, but you are obviously smoking crack if you think you have room to criticize him.
This is quite clever, even if unintentional.
Sai's are lethal by design though......
Freddie is SUCH a kind and humble person while being so eloquent and insightful. I'm always so happy to see him make an appearance ♥️♥️♥️
It’s a cliché to say, but they truly don’t make them like they used to, and this film is a perfect example. A rare movie that is dark in tone, yet fun , that both adults and kids could enjoy.
I rewatched this movie like a month ago for some reason, i forget why..... no, i remember. Someone told me to read the Last Ronin and i did and it was incredible and it made me want to rewatch the old movie. I forgot how truly good that movie was.
Back when Hollywood still had the talent to pull something like that off. Now all we get are remakes and sequels. Even those are less concerned about telling a good story than they are about pushing certain ideologies. There's very little I enjoy coming out anymore.
so much so the second and third movie weren't done like they used to in the first
@@bradleyj.fortner2203 The talent would still be there, the execs just don't want to take chances.
Yea at first glance it looks like The Crow and many of the other dark, edgy 90s movies, but it turns it out it’s a movie about four talking turtles and a rat.
My father worked for Konami/Ultra when they made the TMNT games. They started developing based on the comics with the understanding there would be a kids TV show. When they heard the cartoon studio had introduced the rainbow headbands it was like "Too late for the boxes, but we can probably squeeze it into the game."
Good on them for including that at the last minute. The different headbands was such an upgrade.
They had a shelf of random unsolicited stuff that people mailed in... movie scripts, comics, toys, RPGs. TMNT came from that pile. My dad happened to grab TMNT #1 to read on a bio break and was like "This is ridiculous...ly awesome!!!"
Before that he worked at Parker Brothers and they had a similar storage room of unsolicited stuff. I got a Buckaroo Banzai promotional headband from that room. Unfortunately a BB game wasn't going to happen because the Atari market had crashed and PB was closing up their video game division.
Freddy is such a nice person, I could listen to him and Rich talk about comics for hours, even though I haven't been very interested in comics myself.
Freddie's reaction when Rich remembers Shredder being revived by worms is fucking incredible.
Freddie has such a great energy about him! Loved seeing him again, I hope you made him suffer through another Best of the Worst while he was there! :)
Fingers crossed they got to another Deathstalker!
As a kid Raphael screaming shocked me. The look of the scene and the camera really was intense.
I had exactly the same experience. It's the equivalent of Christopher Reeve doing the same thing in Superman: The Movie. Both shook me as a kid.
Fun fact, the passenger in the cab that Raphael flips over is actually the voice of Raphael
I think the thing about this movie that all other iterations of the turtles seem to lack is that the turtles really feel like brothers, there's a sincere attempt to make them all feel like family & that for me is what makes this movie one of the best.
The CGI one nickolden did is awesome, I say this as a grown woman and mother who loved TMNT growing up and wanted to hate it.
@@catherineocallaghan4102
Seconding this, the 2012 show is great.
OMG yes! Fans of the nick series. Yes the 1990 movie was excellent and the Nick series nails it on so many levels. Absolutely brilliant, haha I'm watching it now and they really do justice to all the characters and stories
The IDW comics also handled it really well by incorporating reincarnation into their backstories.
… it’s about family
I met the actress who plays April at a con earlier this year. She's incredibly sweet and energetic, and she seemed to genuinely enjoy talking to fans.
Born in 86, so TMNT was my jam from an early age. Had a few episodes on VHS with Pizza Hut commercials beforehand. This movie was like a grownup version of the turtles, which was one of my favorite things to imagine for franchises as a kid, like Power Rangers. This is still one of my favorite movies ever!
Same. Wonderfull memories
This is probably my favorite movie of all time. Loved it as a kid, even more as an adult. I was born in 88.
@@MellowMutantPlanet Born in ‘88 as well and I’ve seen this movie more than any other in my entire life. I can quote it word for word. I still like to listen to DuPrez’s OST sometimes too, that dark brooding soundtrack was 🔥. This movie made me a TMNT fan for life. Currently binging the 2003 cartoon series on Paramount Plus.
Freddie is the best. So humble and one of the best artists. So excited to see him back again.
This movie is so endlessly re-watchable and unexpectedly economical. Discovering Menke was an editor on it locked a lot of that into place.
i watched the remastered bluray of this a few years ago & couldnt believe how well it has aged, easily the best TMNT movie
Indeed it is. I actually just got back from watching the new Seth Rogan one and it was pretty garbage. I did like the way it was animated, but that was about it.
The new one is probably the only other good one
This Re:View was a delight, and it was really nice to see all of their enthusiasm and love for the franchise. I'm a decade younger but the cartoons were still very much popular well into the 90s, so I had the same experience as Jay with the cartoons and toys and video games. My mom wouldn't let me rent the movie and I never understood why. I think I finally saw it when I was a teenager and had a...less than favorable reaction to it.
The scene with Raph and Splinter always gets me choked up. I'm glad Freddie mentioned this connection. This movie is SO under rated and a great example of how great practical effects can be.
I don’t think I’d say underrated. It was one of the most popular movies of its time.
@@philliphuey231 I think what he means is more, which movies are looked back on as classics from our childhood. TMNT(1990) doesn't seem to get as much love as others.
It’s crazy to learn Frank Miller wrote the ninja rap in TMNT 2
I was amazed to discover this is true! I read it on Wikipedia.
Totally stoked to see Freddie back, and I loved the story of his meet-cute with Rich Evans during filming of Space Cop. What cinema magic.
You guys have no idea how excited I was to see this in my subscriptions. The TMNT are what made me want to be a comic artist as a kid, and this movie is a huge part of that. Plus, Freddie coming back is always rad.
Freddie seems like such a nice and genuine dude. Happy to see him back.
Splinter was my favorite character in the movies, even as a little kid, but that's because he goes from wise sage to "I made a funny". There's a genuine sense that he cares about them, not just physically, but wants to relate to them emotionally.
And then the song kicks in as the credits roll. Brilliant
@@random__joe Just love when a movie like that ends with a song that makes you want to dance triumphantly
This and '89 Batman were some of my favorite movies as a kid and still are to this day. Please be gentle with my childhood.
This movie shocked everyone with how good it was. And one of the Coreys as Donatello was absolutely perfect for that time. And til this day, the movie holds up. Its just a GOOd movie. A solid late 80’s action flick.
I’ve met Freddie a few times at comic conventions, one of the nicest and genuine guys I’ve ever met. Happy to see him on!
Just as I watched that clip of shredder vs splinter, and jay mentions the large number of edits to cover up the crimes on the rat puppet, I realized that those edits have a masterful continuity of motion with the shredder. Nice editing by whoever did that section.
A 47 minute long RLM discussion of the TMNT movie. This is what I live for sadly.
Great chemistry with these three. Always a treat to see Freddie.
I love that they covered this and am so excited to watch. Corny as it may sound, there's something great in this movie that seems so timely now - the disparity between young men who have guidance and those who don't. Never really thought about it until I rewatched it relatively recently.
My high school art teacher ripped into me for drawing beefy mature turtles in my sketchbook. Congrats on your career Freddie!
18+ deviant art?
So nice hearing Jay talking about being a kid and a legitimate fan of TMNT, and really into it.
So happy that you guys brought Freddie back and it's for one of my all time favorite movies. I'm relieved that the review is so positive because I feel TMNT holds up. When I was a kid I thought they were real, I was 3 ok, and as I got older this movie blew me away. Doing martial arts and stunts in those suits must have been insane. Even with how difficult the movie was to make I'm impressed with the dedication and hard work put in. Also glad that Freddie still gets emotional with Astral Splinter cuz me too. Hope you guys got to hang out for a bit since it's been a while, thanks for this review. 💕🤘
This movie meant the world to us back in 1990. Still the best TMNT movie ever made.
Speaking of cloning, I love how Freddie is morphing into a Super Josh.
How dare you! Josh is blossoming into a beautiful "high school teacher who is into linux", and I am super into it.
Freddie is going more into "What if Patton Oswalt but less depressed" and I am also here to celebrate him.
hilarious
@@marcosdillon “high school teacher who is into linux” is scarily accurate 😭😭😭
As we know, Josh the Wizard is the apex of human evolution. Given enough time, all of the human race will have long beards and know way too much about obscure bands.
@@marcosdillon perfect
2 of my favorite tid bits of trivia about the 1st live action TMNT movie are:
1. Barron used pages of the comics to storyboard the movie.
2. Judith Hoag (April O'neil) shot Cadillac Man with Robin Williams at around the same time and when he heard Hoag was April he gave her comics as reference materials. She even invited him and his family to the premire.
I have a hard time believing #2, but damn it if I don't want it to be true.
It's true. Robin was a big nerd, his 40k Ork army is a thing of legend.
@@TheDrunkestSailor looked for an interview with Hoag to confirm and I'm not sure about the part about the sharing comics...BUT she'd never heard of TMNT and when Robin got excited on the set of Cadillac Man (she was doing pre production stuff for TMNT and going to North Carolina and back to Cadillac Man and people asked what she was doing and said TMNT) it was all the approval she needed.
@@jstr4life Cool, thanks for checking.
@@TheDrunkestSailor It's a true story. Robin Williams had a strong interests in video game and comic books. He even named his daughter Zelda.
Wicked excited to see freddie back in a video! Hope to see him more. He’s great.
Bahstonian spotted
Thanks for this lovely christmas present of sitting listening to you guys talking about one of my favourite films as a kid. So glad it still holds up and the appreciation of how good it was for a silly concept. My biggest shock though is finding out Freddie's never seen The Storyteller. I only watched in later in life but damn that and it's Greek Story 2nd season were amazing and I hope he gets the chance to see them. Great re:View guys and glad after all the trouble you got to finally mate it.
Honestly given how easily filmmakers could have done a cheap effort cash in to take advantage of how big the franchise was, its to the crew's credit at how much real effort there is with the lighting, sets, and even the writing.
In general its a surprisingly deeper film than you'd expect a movie made at the height of Turtlemania to be.
It was the example that led to studios taking such great care and using so much artistic integrity with rebooted intellectual properties today...
this what happens when you let people that care do their thing
This was just delightful thank you guys! Freddie is a real nice guest
Me too, very glad to see Freddie back. That his first contact to the TMNT was the pen-and-paper RPG is just another feather in his cap :)
I literally rewatched Freddie’s first best of the worst not too long ago, and I thought about how I missed guests like him and Len. Glad to see you back!
Now we only need Neil Breen
@@DREADDWELLER We need Monique Gabrielle
Big bang yung
@@J-Dawg81 She's 60 now.... I don't want to ruin the memory 😅
The original TMNT is both one of the best and most underrated comic book adaptations ever made. It's unbelievable that this film has never received a decent release in the states outside of a bare bones blu-ray.
I keep hoping Arrow Video gets the rights to this and puts out a proper collectors edition.
That would be awesome. I read somewhere a few years ago that Eastman and one of the producers were attempting to have one put out but couldn't secure a deal. I can't remember the reasoning but it's a shame. I wish they would do a Halloween 2018 style film that disregarded the sequels and picked up in the same continuity as the original film.
I suspect it’s because nicolodeon own the IP and probably want too much money.
@@One21Jiggawatts Eastman has a working relationship with Nickelodeon though. He was somewhat involved with the 2012 animated series and works on the idw series of comics. One would assume he would have some pull but who knows. Maybe nick thinks it's not worth the investment but I think it would sell like crazy.
Thank you for this video. I had lost touch amidst my read through of the IDW run so this helped kick it back up again. Needless to say, hearing TMNT fans talk about TMNT is always a treat.
Still love this movie! It’s dark, deep, and the occasional humor balances it all well. Still holds up great today.
Oh hey, fancy seeing you here 😆
@@zeroyagami7753 Heya! 🤣
Can I just say how much I love your content? You guys are amazing, thank you for the countless hours of laughter, education, and entertainment.
Watched this with the kids a few weeks ago ... everyone loved it .. each time I watch it over the years the less its flaws bother me and for a kids movie it holds up pretty damn well
Turtles in Time was a huge part of my childhood, and the best thing about the German TV series of the time was the intro - I'm not sure I watched a lot of it, but I certainly remember that to this day ... super iconic.
It's still my favorite movie and my go to when having a bad day. I understood Jay's complaints about the goofy sound effects and wonder if it doesn't bother me because my nostalgia blinds me. This watch made my week and thanks for doing it!
its crazy how stuff from our childhood can hit us so deeply like the fire scene. I cant watch the sandlot without eventually being overcome by emotions of being a kid just playing ball all day ... good stuff, no matter what the topic is, if its done well it will stay with you forever.
Seems like film-makers and films from that era really capture the essence and magic of being a kid
Yo, I straight LOVE the first movie, I have great memories of seeing it when it came out in the theater with my sister, I was like 11, but even the old movie veteran I've become has a genuine appreciation for what they pulled off in 1990. Then came the sequels...
Hey I loved TMNT 2.
@@CSestp Parts of 2 are good, but even though I was a kid I could sense how much cheaper the production was, and I also took major issue with there being a different April O'Neal and no Casey Jones. Or Beebop. Or Rocksteady.
It can not be understated how magical and captivating it felt seeing this movie in the theater at the height of my childhood Turtles obsession. I actually do like the second movie a fair bit, but the original set the bar for this kind of adaptation and I don't think anything has lived up to it since.
It was so good! Saw it with my best friend, we where 8 or 9, we just loved it to bits. Played Turtle action figures and NES after when we got home till we passed out. Oh the good ol days :)
I'm with you, I remember being five or six and thinking the second movie was better at the time. I'd agree the first is almost certainly better looking back but for the target audience it was aimed at the second wasn't a bad movie at all.
the second movie gets way too much flak simply by being in contrast to the first. I love both equally but find myself rewatching the second one in the background more often. I find it to be more light hearted fun, as I'm not always in the mood for drama. the ooze story was a great premise too. the third movie however... we don't talk about the third movie...
I highly disagree with some of the comments here like "awkwardly fighting in rubber suits". No, the fighting is fantastic considering how heavy and hot the costumes were. Or "they could barely do the turtles". No, the articulation, movement and expression in their faces is pretty damn flawless.
This movie was the PERFECT blend of the comics and cartoon. Dark but funny. Violent but bloodless. Just an absolute 10/10 that still holds up today.
I was talking to a friend of mine who didn't like the movie much (but loved the del Toro Hellboy films) and I tried to explain that the TMNT movie had similar budget/technological constraints for the time, and they got pretty pissed off with me for making the comparison
Excellent review, although I was a little disappointed that while discussing the dark tone of the film they didn't once bring up the role that the real life backdrop of crime-ridden late 80s/early 90s NYC played in creating that atmosphere, or how the entire Foot Clan in the movie is basically just an underground gang of disaffected teens and young adults that Shredder is using and exploiting for his own ambitions. The scenes with Danny and Splinter are just as emotional and hit just as hard as the farmhouse portion of the film, especially near the end where they rescue Splinter and he emphatically tells the others how they have all been manipulated by Shredder. That really hit home on alot of levels seeing something like that in a "kids" film back in the day.
It goes without saying tbh
So happy to see Rich Evans back. This should be one to remember.
I love when Freddie comes back! That behind the scenes story about Space Cop was cute too.
Love Freddie as a guest. Can't wait for another BOTW with him.
My Dad took me to see this film when I was a kid. For him, it was just a kids movie, but he was surprised by how wise Splinter was and he found himself nodding along to the things Splinter said 😂
You are gay
I was supposed to go see the movie when it first came out but I lied to my parents about doing my chores (weeding the garden) and I didn't get to go with everyone and I cried but then later my parents took me and I was so stoked!
For me, my parents didn't want any part of it. So I was dropped off at the local theater. And I waited in such a long line, that I missed the 5pm showing. And had to watch it at around 9pm. And then for my birthday, I got the VHS of the movie the following year!
But I got into TMNT from a friend, who was a fan of the comics. And then after the movie, I watched the cartoon and bought all the toys.
🤣
Same, my dad was a bit mad that they were showing punk kids getting away with shit (mostly smoking), and then when Splinter came around he was all nodding and doing these awkward looks at me as if I needed take that as an example instead of mohawks, smoking, tattoos and skateboards. I also have bad news regarding that.
I could go on for hours about this movie. At every phase of my growing up, I could return to it and find a new aspect of it that I enjoyed. Decades later, it is still in my mind not just a good TMNT movie, or a good comic book movie, it's just a legitimately great film full of various forms of artistry that I'm glad got made the way it did.
Awesome to see Freddie back. Part of the RLM family that has been greatly missed.
Guy's, I just want to say that I really appreciate what you do. It brings me genuine happiness to see a new Red Letter Media video appear on UA-cam. I know you probably think you're not doing much, but thank you. From the bottom of my heart.
I never noticed before what you guys were saying about the faces being entirely static when a turtle is doing stunts! Also, while that by itself is crazy, the more interesting part of that to me is that when the turtles' faces are torqued up into a grimace/scowl like that, they're sculpted into an almost-perfect recreation of faces that would have been drawn by Eatman/Laird or Jim Lawson.