Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation
Series, 1997, The Next Mutation, Set in New York, with a fifth turtle
Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation is #5 of 16 in release order and #5 of 16 in chronological order in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The story
Everyone's favorite teenage mutants are back in live action to fight crime with help from a new ninja turtle -- a female named Venus De Milo.
Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation recap
Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation (1997) adds a fifth turtle, Venus de Milo, who helps the brothers beat the Shredder and a dragon army, the Rank. Saban Entertainment made it for Fox Kids, where it ran from September 1997 to May 1998 for one season of 26 episodes; shot in Vancouver, it is the franchise's only live-action series. Venus (Nicole Parker, voiced by Lalainia Lindbjerg) was mutated with the others but raised in Chinatown by Chung, who trained her as a shinobi with magic powers. Leonardo (voiced by Michael Dobson), Raphael (Matt Hill), Michaelangelo (Kirby Morrow) and Donatello (Jason Gray-Stanford) live with Splinter (voiced by Stephen Mendel). In the five-part opener, "East Meets West", Venus uses her magic to drive the Shredder (Patrick Pon) mad and the Foot Clan breaks up. The Dragon Lord then escapes an enchanted mirror with his Rank soldiers, and the brothers also face the scientist Dr. Cornelius Quease, the big-game hunter Simon Bonesteel and the vampire Vam-Mi. April O'Neil and Casey Jones never appear. Promoted as a follow-on to the 1987 cartoon while reusing sets and ideas from the film trilogy, the show stands alone.
Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation ending explained
Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation ends with "Who Needs Her" (May 15, 1998), a clip episode in which the brothers mock Venus for botching a togetherness spell and she storms out, leaving them magically stuck together. While Splinter undoes the spell, they look back on her adventures and admit she is family; when they track her down, she has already escaped the Rank by herself. The Dragon Lord is never beaten, since the series stopped after its single season. Beyond adding Venus, the show departs from other versions by having Leonardo say the Turtles are not blood brothers and by giving Michaelangelo tonfa in place of nunchaku.
Where to watch Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation
Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation is streaming on Prime Video, Hoopla, Plex, and Tubi in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon.
Ratings
IMDb 4.3/10
Where it fits
- Release order: after Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, before Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
- Chronological order: after Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, before Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
What to watch before Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation
In release order, the essentials before Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation (1997) are Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993). Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation itself is optional in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles order.
Cast
- Kirby Morrow as Michaelangelo (voice)
- Matt Hill as Raphael (voice)
- Jason Gray-Stanford as Donatello (voice)
- Michael Dobson as Leonardo (voice)
- Lalainia Lindbjerg as Venus de Milo (voice)
- Stephen Mendel as Splinter (voice)
- Gabe Khouth as Leonardo
- Jarred Blancard as Michaelangelo
- Nicole Parker as Venus de Milo
- Christopher Gaze as Dragonlord (voice)
- Scott McNeil as Bonesteel
- Simon Webb as Dr. Quease