This puts a different spin on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to be certain but it’s pretty cool really since it’s a different sound that keeps the feeling of the animated series alive even if it’s a little harder than most people are used to. Back in the day the Turtles were awesome and it’s been attempted to keep that feeling going in the current era, but one could say that the story has hit a few bumps and snags along the way since it’s not quite as popular as it used to be, even though the Turtles are still around and are still a favorite memory of many. But their theme music has always been pretty distinctive and hard to mistake for anything else, and hearing it in a metal version isn’t too bad since it doesn’t take anything away from it really. It would be nice to see the Turtles come back to the same prominence they held back in the day when they were still immensely popular, but the competition at this point is so stiff that it’s not hard to see why it’s not happening nearly as quickly.
The Turtles have definitely been given the attempt at greatness again since they’ve been pitted against Batman, who beat the hell out of them, and they’ve gone up against the Power Rangers and been pitted against other opponents in other instances that aren’t canon but are fun to watch. But one thing about the Turtles is that they did give way to a lot of copycats that tried to emulate their style and ended up just looking silly in the process. From mutated sharks to giant toads to, who knows what else, the copycats were hard to get into since their stories weren’t usually well-developed or given enough thought. As for the Turtles, well, they started adding in characters bit by bit and simply saturated the series, all because the ooze could turn just about any animal into a badass.
The initial live-action movies created a huge surge in the popularity of the Turtles, but the second and third movies kind of failed to live up to the same hype. At one point it feels as though the franchise hit a certain level and just stayed there, not dropping low enough to be forgotten but not rising as high as they could either for various reasons. At one point it was enough to think that the Turtles, Splinter, and Shredder would be enough to sustain the franchise for a while. Bebop and Rocksteady were great enemies since they were dumb as bricks but still tough as hell, while Shredder was a trained ninja that’s gone toe to toe with Batman and given him a few issues before the dark knight thrashed the blade-covered villain. But when it came to bringing in more characters things really started going off the rails, as characters such as Casey Jones were cool, but from there it just got crazier and crazier. It might have been okay had every character made some sense and been allowed to remain within the canon, but when characters come and go so frequently and don’t do a whole lot for the story it begins to tear things down just a bit.
Fans have expressed their love for this franchise over the years in many ways, but it always comes down to the idea of ‘what now?’, since the Turtles have been a mainstay in pop culture for so long that just forgetting them isn’t a great option. In fact, it’s not an option at all according to many upon many fans that want to see this idea continue and will do and say just about anything to make it happen. Right now the future of the Turtles has been getting bounced around until something finally sticks. The quartet has been represented quite a bit over the years as they’ve never gone away entirely, but the fact is that they’re not nearly as noticeable as a lot of us can remember from our younger years. How that might be accomplished is hard to say since trying to outdo every other show on the market at this point, or even doing well enough to be counted among the favorite shows again, is bound to be a little tough.
The thing is that the Turtles have come and gone a couple of times in live-action movies and in animation and while those that remember them from decades ago are usually glad to see the resurgence, a number of them have been insanely picky about each presentation. The truth is that one should be glad that one of their childhood favorites is still around and are still being represented in a large number of ways that people feel are pertinent. One way or another, it’s fun to remember TMNT.
