Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

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About

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a series of comics created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman, following the exploits of a group of mutant turtles. The four teenage mutant ninja turtles are all named after famous renaissance artists: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael. They live in the sewers beneath New York City with their adoptive father Splinter (a rat). They are sometimes joined in their adventures by former lab assistant April O'Neil, and they fight against their enemy, a rat and ninjutsu master called Shredder.

History

Comics

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles began as a comic book published by Mirage Studios in 1984. It was originally a parody of dark, extreme and serious comics at the time and took elements from "The New Mutants", "Daredevil" (it is even implied the same radioactive chemicals that splash Matt Murdock's eyes are the same as the one that mutates the turtles) "Ronin" and "Cerebus". It was intended as a one shot but its popularity led to it becoming an ongoing title. Eventually IDW picked up the publishing in 2009. They began a new series, changing the origin of the turtles and splinter slightly, making them test subjects in a genetics lab and also the reincarnation of a feudal era Japanese family.

Cartoons

The original TMNT^[2] animated show premiered December 11, 1987, and ran for 10 seasons airing its series finale on November 2, 1996. This series is most likely the most well known part of the franchise. It introduced the turtles having different color bandannas so viewers, specifically its young target audience, could tell them apart easier. While the original comic was more violent and contained more mature content, the first cartoon was a very child friendly Saturday morning cartoon.

Later in 2003 a new TMNT cartoon was released, it often referred to as TMNT 2K3. The show ran for 7 seasons and ended in 2010. The 6th season renamed the show Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fast Forward and the 7th was called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Back to the Sewers. It also had one film, named Turtles Forever, that crossed over with the 80's cartoon and Mirage Comic. The children's cartoon channel, Nickelodeon, purchased the rights of the franchise and launched a new series premiered on Nickelodeon on September 29, 2012. As of September 2015 it is still running and has had 3 seasons, with a 4th ordered and a 5th announced.

Film and TV

The first film was in 1990, simply called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The major difference in this film was that the Foot Clan were not a Ninja order but rather a group of teenage outcasts the Shredder takes in. This was also the first live action appearance of the turtles. It spawned 2 sequels, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Secrets of the Ooze (1992) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993), the latter infamous for its negative reception.

In 1997 the live action series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation was released as a continuation of the 1980s cartoon. This, like the 3rd film was not well received by fans and critics alike. Another film titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was released in 2014, and has a sequel planned. This film received a mixed perception.

Online Presence

As of March 2014, the Facebook page^[8] for TMNT has over 1.2 million likes and its Twitter account^[9] has over 11,000 followers. The five most recently aired episodes are available for subscribers on Hulu^[10], while the '90s live action series is available for subscribers on Netflix.^[11]

Fandom

In addition to its official social media presence, fan sites for TMNT include The Technodrome^[21], a fan blog from the perspective of the TMNT villains, and ninjapizza^[22] which features news and updates about the franchise. Tumblr blogs dedicated to TMNT include tmnt-central^[22], tmntconfessions^[23], and tmntmaster.^[24] Popular tags used for the show on Tumblr include #TMNT^[18] and #TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles.^[19] There are over 1,300 submission under Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on Fanfiction.net^[16] and over 54,000 submission on DeviantArt.^[17]

Tributes and Parodies

On January 25th, 2006, comedy YouTube channel Smosh^[13] uploaded a skit based on TMNT and set to its theme song (below, left). As of March 2014, the video has gained over 10 million views. On December 9th, 2010, YouTuber Ploobers^[14] uploaded a video featuring a shot by shot live action recreation of the original TNMT's opening theme (below, right). As of March 2014, the video has gained over 1.3 million views.

On July 13th, 2011, YouTuber nmckaig^[12] uploaded a capella cover of the TMNT theme song (below, left). As of March 2014, the video has gained over 160,000 views. On January 17th, 2004, YouTube comedy channel Annoying Orange^[15] uploaded a video titled "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turnips" (below, right). As of March 2014, the video has gained over 690,000 views.

Notable Examples

Teenage Mutant Ninja Noses

Teenage Mutant Ninja Noses is a photoshop meme that involves drawing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles mask over the tip of the subject’s nose, typically in photographs of celebrities.The “Teenage Mutant Ninja Noses” (TMNN) Tumblr^[1] page was created on October 2nd, 2011. The first image featured on the blog was a photo of a child with drawings on his face, including a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle mask on his nose.

Middle-Aged Mutant Ninja Turtles

Because of the mutant ninja turtle's specific age range (teens), many comedians and fan artists have imagined the turtles as children or adults.

On September 13th, 2008, comedy YouTube channel DogWalkProductions^[25] uploaded the first episode in five episode web series titled "Middle Aged Mutant Ninja Turtles" which features the turtles doing stereotypically middle aged activities like working an office job. On October 7th, the premiere was featured on FunnyorDie. As of March 2014, the first episode has gained over 27,000 views.

On October 29th, 2013, Netorama^[26] posted a comic created by illustrator Gemma Correll featuring the middle aged ninja turtles discussing their health.

"It's Just a Mask"

"It's Just a Mask" is a quote said by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles character Michelangelo as he removes his mask to reveal his face in a rooftop scene from the 2014 live-action adaptation of the comic book and animation series. Following the release of the first official trailer, the scene inspired numerous parody animations in which Michelangelo reveals himself as another fictional character.

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