Trivia / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)

• Acting for Two:
  • Josh Pais plays Raphael as well as the taxi cab passenger bound for LaGuardia Airport.
  • Michelan Sisti plays Michelangelo and Tony, the Domino's Pizza delivery boy.
  • Leif Tilden plays Donatello and the Foot messenger whom April encounters in the subway station.
  • David Forman plays Leonardo as well as the Foot gang member who appears during Casey and Tatsu's fight.
  • Kenn Scott (credited as Kenn Troum) played multiple Foot Ninja (including the one that gets into the nunchuck duel with Mike in April's home and the one that says "Bisentos, now!") and also became Raph's stunt double after the original double got injured while filming the fight scene with Casey. He went on to play Raph inside the suit in the sequel.
• Actor-Inspired Element: It was Josh Pais' idea to give Raphael a Brooklyn accent.
• Blooper: Donatello performer Leif Tilden's face can be briefly seen in the scene where Raphael regains consciousness in April's bathroom.
• California Doubling: Back in the previous two movies before the third one, many scenes were shot in both New York and North Carolina, though both films take place in much of New York, anyway.
• Children Voicing Children: Corey Feldman was in his late teens and he voiced the teenaged Donatello. Ernie Reyes Jr., who was his stunt double, was also a teenager (he is only a year younger than Feldman).
• Completely Different Title: The film is titled Mutant Turtles in Japan.
• Costume Backlash:
  • Josh Pais became claustrophobic from wearing the Raphael suit during production.
  • Judith Hoag was horrified by the planned jumpsuit for April and found the character's hair perm "horrible".
• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: Roger Ebert was evidently not aware of the comic book beginnings of the characters, as his review claims that they originated in the NES game.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Although he was proud to have helped advance the art of animatronics, Jim Henson was less than pleased with the actual content of the movie. He viewed the violence as "excessive, pointless, and not his style." As such, Henson's children tried to have a dedication to his memory removed from Secret of the Ooze (which, ironically, went out of it's way to tone down a lot of the violence because of Henson's complaints).
  • Judith Hoag (April) enjoyed making the film, but was disappointed about the "mystical through-line" with the turtles being cut, as well as the on-set conditions and money problems. She consequently didn't reprise her role for the sequels.
• Creator's Favorite Episode: Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird both named this film as their favorite TMNT film, no doubt due to it being more Truer to the Text than the 1987 series.
• The Danza: Michelan Sisti wore the Michelangelo costume.
• Dawson Casting: Corey Feldman was the only teenager to actually voice one of the titular teenage mutant ninja turtles. Josh Pais, Brian Tochi and Robbie Rist were all adults playing teenagers.
• Deleted Scene: Several. There are numerous scenes on the farm that give the four turtles much more Character Development, expanding on April and Casey's romance, and would put later scenes into a different context:
  • Casey would have been introduced much earlier, watching the news report of the crimewave before getting his hockey mask.
  • April and Casey's reaction to Mikey's "turtle wax" joke was originally one of relief after he goes through a severe Heroic BSoD where he destroys a punching bag and part of the barn's wall. (April was originally going to draw a sketch of him and narrate that he was the one she was the most concerned about - it sticks out in the film, as she comments on Leo and Don, but not Mikey).
  • An extended training sequence where Leo proves a point by turning his mask around and fighting blind followed by the other Turtles taking turns doing the same. The scene rather famously has Donatello sporting a straw hat.
  • Various scenes of the Turtles training on their own or in pairs trying to master the technique Leo shows them earlier.
  • Some of the April and Casey scenes involve him trying to help her with a stuck truck door while she declines and exits on the driver's side. Another leads into the scene of the two of them talking on the porch swing where the night before she shows him her drawings the Turtles but tries to hide the one she did of him in a beanie, they both share a laugh over it.
  • A game of "ninja hot potato" where the Turtles toss around an apple and the holder has to defend against the other three while taking a bite out of it. It makes the later scene where Raph finishes off an apple after defeating a squad of Foot ninjas a Call-Back.
  • Shredder sparring with the Foot Clan and mopping the floor with them without even standing up. This is especially notable as this is an actual ninja tactic called fudoza, or immovable seat, and he used actual ninja techniques for the scene.
  • Had director Steve Barron and editor Sally Menke had their way, the film would've adapted the original comics' origin story that featured Oroku Nagi verbatim. This plot line found its way into the novelization and comic adaptation of the film, giving them the distinction of being the only TMNT adaptations that adapt the original origin story word-for-word.
  • The movie's stickerbook features two scenes that were cut: Raphael's fight with Casey leading into an alley and April leaving the burning apartment followed by Leonardo carrying Raphael.
• Directed by Cast Member:
  • The Latin American Spanish TV dub was directed by Mario Castañeda, who also voiced Casey Jones.
  • In the Italian dub, Rossella Izzo is April's voice actress as well as the ADR director.
  • The German dub was directed by Splinter's voice actor Arne Elsholtz.
• Dueling Dubs:
  • The film was dubbed twice into Japanese. In addition to its VHS release, a second dub premiered on Fuji TV's "Golden Screen Theater" programming block in 1993.
  • There were four Latin American Spanish dubs made for this film. The first one was made by Audiomaster 3000 for its VHS release, with the second by Producciones Salgado for its TV release, the third by Videorecord for its Argentinian release, and the fourth for its Colombian release in the 2000s.
• DVD Commentary: Director Steve Barron recorded an audio commentary for the 2010 DVD release in Germany.
• Enforced Method Acting: Raphael's desperate clawing at the trash can Casey knocks him into was because the head of the suit crushed on impact and broke the stuntman's nose, causing him to start choking on his own blood.
• Executive Veto: Danny's Sid Vicious t-shirt was added at the advisory of director Steve Barron who wanted the film to have a punk rock soundtrack. The producers wanted something a bit more commercially friendly, which is why we got a soundtrack that included MC Hammer and songs like "Turtle Power". The original choice for composer was Malcolm McLaren.
• Fake American: The Canadian Elias Koteas played New York's Casey Jones.
• Fake Nationality: Baltimore native Kevin Clash plays Splinter with a Japanese accent.
• Follow the Leader: The film came out in the wake of Batman (1989)'s success. It even has the film's dark and murky tone, in line with the original comics.
• He Also Did: Before this film, director Steve Barron was an acclaimed music video director, having done the videos for "Billie Jean", "Take on Me," "The Sun Always Shines on TV,", "Africa" and "Roseanna", as well as the music video-esque Cult Classic Electric Dreams. He was also a Creature Shop veteran, which is how he got the company to provide the Turtles' puppets. He'd later go on to direct a different cult film, Coneheads.
• International Coproduction: The trilogy was a US-Hong Kong coproduction between New Line Cinema (US) and Golden Harvest (Hong Kong).
• Looping Lines: Shredder in the films is performed by James Saito in the first film and François Chau in Secret of the Ooze, but is dubbed over by David McCharen in both. Tatsu meanwhile, is performed by Toshishiro Obata and dubbed by Michael McConnohie in both.
• Missing Trailer Scene: In the original trailer, there is a shot of the turtles rising up from what looks like a swamp. The shot was cut from the final release but is part of a longer scene that was later used near the end of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze.
• Network to the Rescue:
  • In 1988, Gary Propper and Kim Dawson tried pitching the film to nearly every studio in Hollywood (even Paramount), but they were turned down. Eventually, Bobby Herbeck met with Golden Harvest's then-head of production Thomas K. Gray, who green-lit the project after four months.
  • New Line Cinema agreed to distribute the film after an initial distribution deal with 20th Century Fox fell through.
• No Stunt Double: Josh Pais (Raphael) did most of his own stunts, save for the backflips and skateboarding which were done by Kenn Troum.
• On-Set Injury: According to a 2014 interview with Judith Hoag, quite a few stunt performers suffered injuries during production. For example, Raphael's first stunt double injured his nose during the fight with Casey in Central Park.
• Orphaned Reference: Raphael is eating an apple after the turtles defeat the Foot's first wave during the sewer fight. This was meant to be a Call-Back to the deleted "ninja hot potato" scene mentioned above. Fortunately, it still works as a joke about Raph finding the Foot so unchallenging that he feels at ease enough to have a snack during the fight.
• Production Posse:
  • Director Steve Barron and cinematographer John Fenner previously worked together with Jim Henson on The Storyteller.
  • Puppeteers Kevin Clash, David Rudman and Martin P. Robinson also worked with Henson on The Muppets franchise.
• Real-Life Relative: In the first film's Latin American Spanish VHS dub, Jorge Roig voices Michelangelo, his wife Rocío Garcel voices June and their son Jorge Roig Jr voices Danny Masterson.
• Refitted for Sequel: Donatello's "eclectic" joke that appeared in the opening fight of Secret of the Ooze was supposed to have been originally utilized during the extended farm training sequence — which got cut from the final product.
• Role Reprise:
  • In the Latin American Spanish VHS dub, the late Luis Alfonso Mendoza (Leonardo), Jorge Santos (Raphael), Jorge Roig (Michelangelo), the late Herman López (Shredder) and Mónica Manjarrez (April) reprise their roles from the 1987 series.
  • In the Latin American Spanish TV dub, the late César Arias reprised his role as Donatello, also from the 1987 series.
• So My Kids Can Watch: Thomas K. Gray, the film's executive in charge of production, became involved after asking his two children about the series.
• Spared by the Cut: The scene where Tatsu beats a Foot ninja named Shinsho to death was deemed too dark and one line and heavy breathing were added to the final cut to imply that he survived.
• Throw It In!: The reason why Raph has a Brooklyn accent in this film and so many other adaptations is because his actor Josh Pais had a thick accent himself and the filmmakers decided it was just too perfect.
• Uncredited Role: Skeet Ulrich and Scott Wolf portray Foot clan members, but they were uncredited in the final cut.
• What Could Have Been:
  • 20th Century Fox initially planned to distribute the film, but after Barry Diller succeeded Leonard Goldberg as CEO in May 1989, those plans fell through.
  • Originally, Steve Barron wished to replicate April O'Neil's jumpsuit look from the early Mirage comics and the 1987 series. The look was going to closer resemble the cartoon with a yellow colored jumpsuit and a big head of red hair (as opposed to a green jumpsuit and brown hair). However, Judith Hoag found the jumpsuit "horrifying" and the idea was nixed.
  • Jennifer Beals, Lorraine Bracco, Sandra Bullock, Melanie Griffith, Nicole Kidman, Winona Ryder, Brooke Shields, Marisa Tomei and Sean Young were all considered for April O'Neil.
  • The scene where Raphael exits the movie theater was originally going to be different. There would have been no poster for Critters showing, and Raphael would have commented, "Cool car. Stupid costume." This would have been a reference to Batman (1989), which was in theaters during the filming of this movie.
  • Tatsu brutally beats a young Foot ninja named Shinsho due to the Foot Clan's failure. Originally, Shinsho was intended to die, but that scene was cut during post-production since it was considered too violent for some. The dialogue was replaced with the kid comforting him saying "you'll be alright," to show Tatsu only injured him. The original dialogue was retained for the novelization and the French dub.
  • In the 1980s, the first pitch Eastman and Laird got for a film treatment was from schlockmeister Roger Corman's New World Pictures. The idea was to have the Turtles played by comedians Gallagher, Sam Kinison, Bobcat Goldthwait and Billy Crystal. The actors would be dressed in turtle shells and have their arms and legs painted green. Another treatment received at the time took the Turtles into R-rated territory and included a scene with partially nude nuns on roller skates fighting the heroes. It was turned down, but Peter Laird has admitted to wondering how different things would be if he had accepted at the time.

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