Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Series, 1987, The '80s, Set in The New York sewers
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is #11 of 18 in release order and #11 of 18 in chronological order in the CBS Saturday Morning Cartoons.
The story
Four turtles fall into the sewers and are befriended by Hamato Yoshi a Japanese man sent to New York who was forced to live in the sewers. One day he sees a strange green glow which transforms the four turtles into human-like creatures. Hamato (now Master Splinter) changes into a giant rat from the green glow and teaches the turtles the skills of the ninja as they team up with news reporter April O'Neil to battle against Yoshi's arch enemy Shredder and Krang, an alien warlord from Dimension X.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles recap
Four turtles mutated by ooze and raised in the New York sewers by their rat sensei Splinter become ninjas: Leonardo leads, Donatello builds, Raphael wisecracks and Michelangelo loves pizza. Their friend April O'Neil is a TV news reporter. Their enemy is the Shredder, Splinter's old rival, working with Krang, a brain-shaped alien warlord from Dimension X who lives in a robot body, and their mutant henchmen Bebop and Rocksteady. Krang's rolling fortress, the Technodrome, ends up somewhere new every season: under the city, in Dimension X, in the Earth's core, in the Arctic. The show started as a five-part miniseries in 1987, ran in syndication and on CBS Saturday mornings, and lasted ten seasons and nearly 200 episodes. Season 7 included a trip around Europe. From season 8 the tone changes, with a red sky, a new theme and more serious villains; the Turtles banish Shredder and Krang to Dimension X, and an alien warlord, Lord Dregg, takes over as the main enemy.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ending explained
The final episode, "Divide and Conquer" (1996), follows a season in which Shredder and Krang briefly return and turn on Dregg before being sent back to Dimension X for good. The Turtles take Krang's old robot body from the Technodrome, use it to beat Dregg and banish him to Dimension X, and Splinter tells them he has nothing left to teach them. The 1987 Turtles came back in the 2009 crossover film Turtles Forever.
Where to watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is streaming on Paramount+ in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 7.9/10
Where it fits
- Release order: after Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, before Garfield and Friends.
- Chronological order: after Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, before Garfield and Friends.
Cast
- Cam Clarke as Leonardo (voice)
- Barry Gordon as Donatello (voice)
- Townsend Coleman as Michaelangelo (voice)
- Peter Renaday as Splinter (voice)
- Renae Jacobs as April O'Neil (voice)
- Rob Paulsen as Raphael (voice)
- Pat Fraley as Krang (voice)
- James Avery as Shredder (voice)
- Tony Jay as Dregg (voice)
- Bumper Robinson as Carter (voice)
- Michael Gough as Raphael (voice)
- Bill Martin as Shredder (voice)