The fact that despite being a genocidal maniac who wanted nothing more than to return to the stars to begin his conquest anew, the Shredder still decided to take in, raise, and train an orphaned human girl out of no known reason other than simple altruism. This has left an impression on fans years after the series ended as they were left to debate his intentions and what this says about even the most vile incarnation of the character to date.
In "I, Monster," during the end of Leonardo and the Rat King's fight, the Rat King leaped off an unstable piece of flooring which would've soon collapsed into a sea of rats below and landed on Leonardo. Considering how previously, Leonardo had saved him from a collapsing tower, was the Rat King genuinely trying to get away and coincidentally just happened to land on Leo, or was he still acting in a malicious manner and still trying to attack Leo and/or take Leo down with him? Evidently, Leo felt it was the latter, considering he retaliated by angrily kicking the Rat King into the ocean of rats in the lower floor.
In "Turtle X-Tinction," the group sees a clip of a much younger Cody happily interacting with his uncle Darius Dunn... who in the present has already tried to kill him. As the clip is brief and Dunn seems genuinely happy while playfully ruffling Cody’s hair, it’s completely left to the viewer to wonder if there was a time that Dunn ever had any genuine love for his nephew, or was just being nice in a Pet the Dog moment (which also raises questions if Dunn treats young children any better than, well, literally anybody else). Could always be a simple case of Pragmatic Villainy, though; in that case, being nice was probably in his best interests at that time.
Did the High Mage genuinely want to help the Underground Mutants and cure their mutations in "Notes from the Underground, Part 3," or did he have some ulterior motive? Given that the Underground Mutants are cured only when they are in the High Mage's city, that he wants his race to be reawakened and retake the world it once rulednote which further may imply that the Underground Mutants were going to be turned into slaves. and the fact that he's generally a lying prick, it seems that the latter is true, but it still left to the viewer to decide if he genuinely wanted to help them in some manner or not.
With Kluh eventually becoming a full-fledged villain in the fourth season who tried to kill Michelangelo in their Battle Nexus rematch, one has to wonder why he joined the rebel army that Traximus formed to overthrow Zanramon. Was it because he truly believed in their cause and wanted to do good? Or was he simply the Token Evil Teammate who hid his true nature because he was still upset over the events of the Battle Nexus and joined Traximus only because he was still itching to bash some heads? If the former, then it would mean he was a noble, if violent, warrior who got corrupted eventually. If the latter, then it would mean that he was Evil All Along and was only in it to fulfill his own violent urges.
Does Hun react with disgust upon learning Shredder is an Utrom out of natural speciesism or because (if Karai is any indication), the Shredder has spent years filling his followers' heads with a grossly inaccurate and unflattering view of the Utrom species?
Americans Hate Tingle: The series didn't really take off in Japan as well as the 1987 series did; the only seasons dubbed were 1 and 2, after which it was cancelled. This also happened to China, Hong Kong, and South Korea, which also have only the first two seasons dubbed.
Having an entire six-parter dedicated to a Triceraton invasion of Earth, with the "Space Invaders" three-parter followed up by yet another three-parter ("Worlds Collide") where the Triceratons invade Earth, leave Earth, come back again, rinse/repeat, and generally go back-and-forth with the Turtles, can be quite tedious to sit through. It all depends on whether or not the viewer thinks this long story arc is worth sitting through for the introduction of Agent Bishop and a few other important plot elements in the Triceraton invasion that would be used for later status-quo-changing story arcs such as Ch'rell utilizing Triceraton technology to escape Earth in the later "Exodus" two-parter.
The "Search for Splinter" storyline. While the arc itself — by that name — only lasted two episodes, it was interrupted before reaching a conclusion, by the five episode long "Turtles in Space" arc, finally coming to a close at "Secret Origins, Part 1," seven episodes after it had begun. Putting one story arc on hold for a while will have that effect.
Ass Pull: An In-Universe example that is lampshaded. In "The Journal", Raph reads a story saying that he and Casey were suddenly confronted by a Foot Mystic who teleported them away, but it's later revealed to be part of a fabrication. Splinter, one of the authors of the fake journal, admits he had gotten tired by that point.
Audience-Coloring Adaptation: Karai's characterization in the comic was very different than how she was portrayed in this series, but the latter got so popular this is usually what fans think about when the name of the character comes to mind, and all the other adaptations where she appears took from it in a way. The popular public perception of Karai as a young ninja girl being related to the Shredder with varying degrees of Undying Loyalty towards him began with this show. And while she didn't get romantic with Leonardo, the seeds of them playing the Dating Catwoman game still got planted here as Leo and Karai did go back and forth several times in the platonic sense on just how redeemable she really was, which would only fully bloom during a later series like the 2012 show.
The original theme song has a more rock and roll feel to it than the 1987 one, with a great hook and killer guitar riff. It sets the mood for an action packed 2000s cartoon perfectly.
The series benefits from a great score that often manages to still sound exciting even when it's reused for scenes, or in some cases, pulled from old production archives of music. Almost every character has their own Leitmotif that gives them that much more personality as well.
The dramatic cue heard at the end of "Exodus, Part 2" is appropriately epic and exhilarating as it shows Ch'Rell finally brought to justice, screaming in rage at his then-final defeat, showing that things are going to be quite different from now on.
Fast Forward has a good vibe to it as well highlighting the futuristic elements of the series yet keeping a bouncy tone throughout that's quite catchy.
While Back to the Sewers loses points in the intro for using clips rather then mostly new animation (likely because of the rushed production of the season), the intro definitely has an in your face feel that feels like a roller coaster ride while proclaiming this incarnation is gonna end in a bang.
Some of the unused theme songs that lost the fan vote are also great in their own right. "Bringing the Green" fully leans into the franchise's 80's roots, and "Ninja Turtles Coming Back" has a dramatic hip-hop beat that sounds more akin to the opening of Samurai Jack.
The "Midnight Run" song at the beginning of the "City at War" trilogy, which expertly captures the light-hearted mood of the brothers enjoying a night on the town while jumping across rooftops.
Bishop appears to suffer from this in Fast Forward, but redeems himself in "Day of Awakening."
Both the Justice Force and the Ninja Tribunal suffer from this during the attack on April and Casey's wedding, though the Justice Force gets it less. The Ninja Tribunal are demigods said to be the most powerful Ninjutsu masters on the planet, while the Justice Force consists of several Captain Ersatzes of superheroes like Superman and Green Lantern. Their contribution during this battle consists of being casually swatted aside by the Cyber Shredder and his henchmen; however, the Justice Force's arrival is when the tide turns against the Shredder's henchmen in favor of the heroes.
The Demon Shredder is easily the most powerful of the Shredders, or even characters in general, featured in the show, being capable of transforming entire areas to hellish landscapes and summoning legions of undead and demons. His resurrection during the Ninja Tribunal arc was something that inspired fear in even the godly Ninja Tribunal themselves. During his reappearance in "Tempus Fugit," he appears to be only as strong as the other Shredders and never utilizes his massive powers.
Quarry, Stonebiter, and Razorfist are intimidating figures and thoughtful fighters for the first episode of "Notes From the Underground" and the first few minutes of the second, then turn into more passive, easily frightened or defeated characters. This might be justified though given that their leaving their comfort zone to a place that terrifies them, and from what little we see of them in combat against the feral mutants, they are right to be scared since they stand little chance against them.
Karai gets a spectacular introduction in Season 2, soundly defeating the Turtles, taking charge of the Foot Clan, and brokering a peace between the warring factions, all while gaining the Turtles' trust. Her later appearances have her demoted to one of Shredder's henchmen who struggles to get even a single victory against even one of the Turtles. Thankfully, this is undone as she takes a greater role in Season 4.
Even to this day, there are fans who loved the twist of making the Oroku Saki Shredder the cover identity of the Utrom Ch'rell and those who feel the cartoon royally screwed up by radically altering his character; the fact that the show later revealed the Oroku Saki Shredder was very much alive and a real person whose identity Ch'rell stole was likely an Author's Saving Throw in this regard. There's also if Ch'rell was a cool villain whose Arch-Enemy status to the Turtles was deserved or if he was too overpowered and overly prominent, the latter of which probably isn't helped by a majority of the first three seasons' conflicts eventually revolving around him.
Karai herself was also quite divisive of a character. She had her fans who liked her for being a Dark Action Girl who possessed more honorable Hidden Depths. On the other hand, there were also quite a few fans who hated her guts for her going back and forth between siding with the Turtles and being loyal to the Shredder and just wanted her to stop being so wishy-washy and pick a side. After she stabbed Leo (albeit somewhat unintentionally since Ch'rell kicked Leo right into her sword), she became even more polarizing as pretty much all her haters were calling for her head at that point.
The fight between the Turtles and the Foot Mystics from "Return to New York, Part 2." Up to this point, the Turtles have been facing enemies that are largely Badass Normal (Hun for instance) or at least enhanced in some way (Clothes Make the Superman for the Foot Tech Ninja and Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke for the Underground Mutants for example). In contrast, the Foot Mystics are explicitly stated to be supernatural. Their weird nature was briefly foreshdowed when April mentioned that the floor they are on wasn't listed anywhere, but it still can be a little jarring to some viewers.
Their introduction can come across as this, too. The Turtles enter a weird room with some samurai-looking statues... who inexplicably come to life and proceed to attack them. Compared to other enemies, who appeared in previous episodes (the Foot Tech Ninjas appeared first in "The Way of Invisibility" and later return in the three-parter), the Foot Mystics never appeared in previous episodes and can feel out-of-place to some.
Another BLAM happens in "The Search for Splinter, Part 1." Raphael isn't able to find any clues on Splinter's whereabouts, he gets angry and decides to stop some crook he saw. This scene isn't plot-relevant at all and it isn't brought up again.
Some (although extremely rare) instances of human-Turtle Ship Tease come across as this as Peter Laird was strictly against any human-Turtle romance and forbade most moments like this from appearing in the show, but some instances ended up slipping through the cracks, like Don briefly blushing when April thinks about giving him a Smooch of Victory in the Triceraton invasion arc and Raph awkwardly asking Joi Reynard in season 5. For the most part, April acts more as a big sister to the Turtles, especially Don and is only attracted to Casey and Joi, like the other Acolytes are Out of Focus. Laird's blogs reveal there were a few instances of writers attempting to insert Ship Tease moments between certain Turtles and human characters, but he made them change into more platonic moments, if really necessary, or otherwise he had them remove such moments completely.
Leo's character in Season 4, where for most of the season he takes on an aggressive, take-charge attitude, in lieu to the fact that he and his family technically lost against C'hell Shredder and Karai in the final battle of Season 3 and were only saved thanks to the Utroms arriving just in time to save the day. Thus, he takes any failure in the season pretty hard and lashes out ("Dragon's Rising" in particular where he chews out his brothers and Casey just because they only stopped half of the weapons cargo the Purple Dragons had stolen rather then all). On one hand, most did like that it was part of his character development in eventually learning it's okay to fail if you give it your all long as your survive and learn from it. But others fans likewise hated that they had to wait for most of the season for it and had to put up Leo's demeanor in the meantime, making it hard to watch since he was always angry and feeling "The Reason You Suck" Speech was unwarranted since they did try their hardest (not helped with Raph agreeing with himnote Although, Raph agreeing with Leo's assessment doesn't mean the viewers are supposed to agree with it, Raph is not the best judge of character and in "Cousin Sid", he not only said he likes this new, aggressive Leo (before he started going too far in later episodes) but he also joked that they should let Karai stab Leo more often.). Though ironically, this was foreshadowing to the lesson Leo needed to learn later on.
Season 5 is divisive: many people felt it did a good job wrapping up the remaining plot threads from the previous season, while others felt it was overly gimmicky and too much of an anime/Avatar ripoff, abandoning the series' original roots of being influenced primarily by the original Mirage comics. All that being said, Season 5 is still much better received compared to Fast Forward and Back to the Sewers due to having a Darker and Edgier plot in the form of the Demon Shredder, exploring the martial arts lineage of Master Yoshi and The Ancient One in the Ninja Tribunal, maintaining the same level of animation and artwork from the first four seasons, giving final closure to the Master Yoshi subplot, and generally having an epic Series Finale feel to top everything off.
Cant Unhear It: On account of the cast being New York natives playing New Yorkers, a lot of fans consider them the definitive voices.
"Exodus, Part 2" ends with a triumphant, powerful victory for the Turtles. The Utroms arrive in time to save them and Splinter from their Heroic Sacrifice and immediately capture the Shredder. The Turtles receive desperately needed medical attention, Honeycutt is given a new body, and this time, Shredder does not escape his confinement. What follows is a brutal trial of the Shredder in which his war crimes and millions of innocent victims are laid bare, and earn him a life sentence of exile to a distant asteroid without any means of escape (and as Turtles Forever would later show, resulted in him freezing solid unable to leave). It's so damn satisfying to finally see the Shredder brought to justice, and until Turtles Forever, it stays that way.
For anyone who didn't like Torbin Zixx and how he constantly swindled the Turtles, sucker punched Raph, talked down to them like an arrogant Smug Snake, and got away with his bad behavior throughout the Fast Forward season, seeing him finally get brought down a peg in "The Zixxth Sense" can be a very satisfying experience when the Turtles pay him back by switching his transmitter with a coffee machine, ending with Torbin Zixx running out of excuses before the alien crime lord who wants his head and suffering an embarrassing Saturday-Morning Cartoon villain fate.
The series didn't adhere to Status Quo Is God, which resulted in a lot of long-running plot threads, major reveals that often end up casually conversed about, and bits of character development from episode to episode that people won't catch unless they watch avidly.
"Insane in the Membrane" being pulled from airing resulted in some plot elements of "Adventures in Turtle-Sitting" and "Good Genes, Part 1" confusing viewers at the time, namely why Stockman needs to be resurrected from the dead, and why the Turtles have the helicopter he used in that episode.
A unique example took place in the Season 6 episode "The Journal." Due to the fifth season being put on hold so the sixth could air first, first-time viewers were caught off-guard when the episode depicted characters and settings that had only been introduced in the fifth season. A reformed Nano is seen as a member of the Justice Force, and the Ninja Tribunal are seen outside of their distinctive Shredder armor, when they had not been unmasked by the Season 4 finale in which they'd last appeared. Karai's apparent Heel–Face Turn is less obtrusive since the journal's contents were fabricated, but it still might tip off a viewer that Karai ends Season 5 on an ambiguous note. The appearance of a Foot Mystic also took viewers off guard given the dramatic cliffhanger of their last broadcasted scene in "Good Genes, Part 2," but at least that is explained as Splinter simply chucking them into the story at random.
This also came into play in the episode "Clash of the Turtle Titans", wherein Mikey is shown using the new Turtle Titan outfit he attained in the Season 5 episode "Membership Drive", confusing viewers as to why he was wearing a new outfit.
Draco in Leather Pants: Agent Bishop gets this treatment from a large portion of the fanbase. While he does change his ways and brings peace and stability to the Earth in Fast Forward, he still committed a lot of evil deeds in the bulk of his appearances, most notably attempting to dissect the Turtles and Splinter multiple times, torturing Leatherhead, ruining the lives of his own men by mutating them into monsters, and torturing countless sentient alien beings in the decades leading up to his ultimate Heel–Face Turn. Even though there's little doubt that Agent Bishop is a complex character and multi-faceted Anti-Villain who himself was experimented on by aliens during the Civil War and thus, has a sympathetic and believable motive for wanting to keep Earth safe from aliens invasions, a lot of his fans still have a tendency to play down all his evil deeds and romanticize him as little more than a noble and selfless Hero Antagonist who only has the best interests of the world at heart, even though many of his pre-Fast Forward actions show that he's NOT(most notably when he openly admitted to Splinter in "Bishop's Gambit" that he honestly doesn't care if innocent people get killed by his Slayers in his quest to root out aliens). What also helps his case is that Bishop tends to be given a free pass by many fans for acts that they would crucify other villains for. When Karai tried to kill the Turtles and Splinter in "Scion of The Shredder" in an assault on their home, fans were about ready to lynch her. However, when Bishop did something similar in "Bishop's Gambit" by forcing the Turtles out of their homes with sonics, kidnapping Splinter, and trying to have the Turtles killed, fan reactions to his ruthless actions were much more muted, if not totally silent, by comparison.
Shredder is The Heavy of the series for a reason. He doesn’t indulge in For the Evulz, he demands proof his enemies perished, and he backs up his bark with an even worse bite every single time he’s in combat. Shredder evolves along with the Turtles to combat them, culminating in his final bid to return to space and conquer and murder untold millions. He does this all despite being a diminutive alien who relies on his mind as much as his robotic suits. It literally took exiling him to a remote ice asteroid in deep space without any technology whatsoever to finally bring him down (and even before that, the Turtles and Splinter resigned themselves to a murder-suicide to take him down).
Agent Bishop, the most iconic character created for the series and for good reason. He’s well-regarded for being brilliant, crafty, and genuinely dangerous in direct combat. His interesting backstory made him stand out amongst the series' villains as well.
The Foot Mystics for being personifications of the elements under the Shredder’s control, and for providing one hell of a fight against the Turtles and Splinter. They make a return in Seasons 4 and 5 and prove they were worth their initial hype.
The Dark Turtles have intimidating designs and interesting personalities, and prove to be worthy adversaries to their original counterparts in every encounter.
Fan Nickname: The series is commonly referred to as TMNT 2003 or TMNT2K3 by fans to differentiate it from the '87 cartoon.
Fanfic Fuel: The Bad Future shown in "Same As It Never Was" invites a lot of speculation for fans. How exactly did it come about? Where are the characters we do not see, if not dead, and what are they doing? How exactly were Splinter and Casey killed? Why did Donatello disappear and how did his family and friends handle it?
Some fans have speculated that the villain Khan from the seventh and final season of the show was actually one of the four Foot Elite who were relatively prominent supporting villains from the first five seasons, due to sharing the same leitmotif as them.
Leonardo is widely believed to be blind in the Bad Future shown in "Same As It Never Was," to the point where many assume it's canon, though Word of God says that wasn't the intention (but didn't outright joss it).
Some have theorized that the human looking characters seen in the "Turtles in Space" and Triceraton Invasion arcs are actually humans from Earth abducted by aliens or descendants of them. This is helped a bit by the alliance formed by General Blanque and Agent Bishop as Bishop himself was abducted by aliens in the 1800s.
Fanon Discontinuity: For some fans, Fast Forward and Back to the Sewer seasons. This is because both seasons are lighter in tone and more episodic compared to the prior ones. Fast Forward also drastically changes the premise of the show by transporting the Turtles to the future.
Back when the show was airing, April and Donnie received a lot more attention than April and Casey did. This has lessened however, due to the negative reception of the canon Apriltello ship from the 2012 series, to the point that most people now prefer the more platonic, sibling like relationship Don and April had in this show and in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which also has the subsequent effect of this series' version of the April/Casey pairing greatly rising in popularity, bordering on a unanimous One True Pairing.
Leonardo and Karai. Despite there not being all that much Ship Tease between the two and Karai ending up with Dr. Chaplin by the end of the fifth season, a lot of fans prefer to ship the two of them due to their similar sense of honor and personalities.
Fan-Preferred Cut Content: Despite how divisive Fast Forward was, many fans wish that the second season had happened due to how promising many of the ideas in it seemed, such as the Dark Turtles cementing their Heel–Face Turn, the return of Leatherhead, an appearance by Space Usagi, as well as a Triceraton Shredder (albeit some fans weren't keen on the idea of him turning out to be Ch'Rell commandeering a Triceraton's body).
First Installment Wins: A variation. The post-retool seasons, Fast Forward and the Back to the SewersSoft Reboot aren't as well-regarded as the first five seasons, due to dropping most of the arcs, serialized storytelling, and serious tone that made the earlier seasons so well-liked, and having fairly gimmicky premises that said seasons mostly tried to avoid. Although some of Fast Forward's characters (such as the Dark Turtles and Viral) are well-liked enough that people would love to see them again in a new incarnation.
While Season 1 is good, Season 2 started putting greater focus on the characterization of the main cast, started to rely much less on the Foot Clan as a major threat in less plot-relevant episodes, and began to weave the story arcs that would come. Season 3 then followed it up with major status quo changes that affected the Earth as a whole, and giving the series more than one central villain, each with their own long-term plan and interesting characterization.
Season 4 is usually considered the high point of the series, due to having some complex and surprisingly well written arcs for both Leonardo and Michelangelo and an interesting change to the status quo following the final defeat of Ch'Rell.
An In-Universe example in Fast Forward. Serling has made a compilation of his home movies with Cody. There's lots of adorable, funny moments like Serling having to change Cody's diapers... and then we see a video of Cody getting patted on the head by a seemingly jolly Uncle Darius, who'd just been outed to him as a villain in the previous episode. The mood gets awkward, and Serling mumbles that he should probably remove that clip.
Zog's failed attempt at a Heroic Sacrifice to try to kill the Shredder cemented him as one of the show's most beloved one-off characters and easily makes it one of the series' most tragic moments - and leads to some heartwarming callbacks as Mikey later names two separate Triceratopsnote okay, the second one was a fictions species crossed with a Styracosaurus after him in his memory. In the 2012 series, Zog fully regains his bearings, turns on the Turtles, and calls them out for taking advantage of them before dying as a loyal Triceraton soldier. It's arguable that this Zog would've done the same if he had regained his own bearings, making this Zog's sacrifice even more bittersweet.
In "Mission of Gravity," Karai defends her decision to continue serving the Shredder by asking Leo if he could so easily turn on his father, even knowing he was evil. Four episodes later in "Reality Check," the audience is shown an alternate universe where Splinter is a villain opposed by the still heroic Turtles.
Leonardo accidentally stabs Splinter in his nightmare in "The Darkness Within." Come "The Ancient One," he ends up actually injuring Splinter after losing his temper.
In "Hunted," Leatherhead shows deep care for Michelangelo when he accidentally hurts him and is extremely happy when he Michelangelo alive and well. Fast forward to the 2012 series, where the two become best friends.
In "Tale of Master Yoshi," Leo spoke fondly of Tang Shen, since he states Yoshi's story is about "a girl." Come Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) and you see Shen and Leo being mother and son respectively, especially when the former comforts her older son in spirit.
It Was His Sled: By now the reveal that the Shredder in this version is not human but an alien tends to be common knowledge in the fandom.
Baxter Stockman in the episode "Insane in the Membrane." Sure, he was an arrogant jerk, but we learn that he used to be a very sweet kid and in the present day breaks down after seeing hallucinations of his dead mother, which is made worse by his regret of never fulfilling his mother's dreams for her son while she was alive. It's especially hard to not feel sorry for him after he ends up dying after his new body completely decays and Bishop resurrects him, denying him a chance at finally dying in peace.
Stockman: Why couldn’t you finally let me rest in peace? WHY?
The con man in the first episode with Nano may have been using the colony of nanotechnology for his own ends, but as the episode goes on, he legitimately begins to care for him as if he was his son and even expresses remorse after Nano was seemingly destroyed and was overjoyed to see it alive and well in its second appearance.
Magnificent Bastard: Agent John Bishop is the leader and founder of the Earth Protection Force, an anti-alien task force Bishop designed after undergoing trauma and experimentation at the hands of aliens. Believing that all aliens and mutations are enemies of humanity, Bishop keeps himself alive for centuries to secure humanity's "safety", creating an entire clone army under the U.S. government's nose and even successfully staging an alien invasion to gain more funding for the EPF. Bishop is as dangerous in combat as he is in strategy, as he dances around entire groups of trained combatants including the Turtles, Karai and Hun, always using nothing but his surroundings and quick-thinking to get the upper hand and keep up. By the year 2105, Bishop has come to see the error in his hatred of all aliens, and develops a peace treaty between several alien worlds and Earth, becoming the beloved President of the new galactic federation and keeping the peace with a gentle but firm hand.
Memetic Molester: The alien frog from the "Bad Blood" episode. From his tone of voice and the way he grabbed Cody makes him look like a child predator.
Memetic Mutation: The fact that Leo rides a scooter and Raph knows how to knit are both still popular jokes among the fandom. So is the fact that Hun has been a hardcore gamer for years.
The family-friendly swearing by having the turtles say "What the shell?" rather than hell can get a little silly sometimes, especially in otherwise serious moments.
In The Shredder Strikes back, Part 1, at one point, Leo has to fight the invisible Foot tech ninjas, and they manage to carry Leo, while he struggles, to the edge of the roof and throw him off to the ground. On paper, it sounds like a cool moment in Leo's intense Battle in the Rain. But the execution of the scene doesn't quite work and it looks less like Leo is struggling against invisible foes about to throw him off a roof and more like he is Wile E. Coyote-like character who has just realized that he is standing in thin air and is about to fall off.
Leo is sullen and silent at the beginning of "The People's Choice," refusing to join his brothers in exploring the old mill. But when the other three race each other to the roof of the mill, only to find Leo already up there, still sullen and silent, and never indicating why he was there at all (he seems to only notice the spacecraft when the others do), it plays off a bit weird. It's hard to tell if it was his way of joining the fun despite his mood, or if something prompted him to climb to the roof separately, or if he was just really determined to force the others to deal with his bad mood.
Season 4's "Scion of the Shredder" features Karai responding to the Foot Soldiers under her command with "excellent" three times in a row in the span of a few minutes. It's easy to be reminded of Mr. Burns from the Simpsons and runs the risk of undermining a very dramatic sequence.
Leo's reunions with his brothers and Splinter in "Prodigal Son" are mostly quite sweet, but when he finds Don and Splinter, Don runs joyfully to him and they... shake hands. Not that the brothers are big "huggers" in general, but Don has hugged Raph and Mikey, Leo can usually at least manage an affectionate shoulder-pat with his brothers, they hadn't seen each other for ages, and neither of them knew if they ever would see each other alive again. Given the moment, greeting with a handshake came across as awkward and formal.
Could be justified in that Don was injured and neither wanted to aggravate his injuries
Some of the recycled animation can take a viewer out of it at times. For example, the Utroms coming to the rescue in "Exodus, Part 2" is lifted wholesale from "Secret Origins, Part 1," but with new dialogue dubbed over.
Older Than They Think: As reviled as Fast Forward was, the entire concept of the Turtles being able to walk freely in daylight where humanity has integrated with aliens from outer space does have its Mirage precedence, albeit done differently than in the show. By the time of Volume 4 of the Mirage series which began running in 2001, a full two years before the 2003 show even premiered and a full five years before Fast Forward became a season, the Utroms came to Earth to establish peaceful relations and as a result, humanity sees an influx of aliens integrating into their society. After that, the Turtles are able to walk freely in public under the guise of being aliens.
The Demon Shredder for the Utrom Shredder, for some who did like the latter twist on the character. On one hand he is the real original Oroku Saki in this continuity, but then he's also pretty far from the base Mirage version and the familiar 80s cartoon version due to being an ancient warrior merged with a demon (the actual original Shredder) who heavily uses magic.
The Cyber Shredder is a borderline example, being a AI copy of the original Ch'rell with no really distinctive features on his own besides living inside cyberspace. The fact that his existence indirectly leads to the death of Viral is another black mark.
Cody and Serling were this to April and Casey.
Almost the entire new Rogues Gallery from Fast Forward, with the exceptions of Viral and the Dark Turtles, weren't very well received for replacing the more popular villains like Hun, Bishop, and so forth. The fact that they were more in line with typical Saturday morning cartoon villains sure didn't help, when the show was known for writing more complex and interesting antagonists.
Salvaged Story: Starting with the "Season 4" DVD note which didn't actually contain all of Season 4, just most of the back half, and what's more egregious is that a commercial titled it "The Complete Fourth Season", 4Kids finally transitioned into selling more complete season sets of the series. Unfortunately, only Seasons 1-2, 5, and 6 saw full releases in this more consistent thirteen-episode set format, with Seasons 3 and the first half of Season 4 remaining only available in the various five-six episode DVD's from 2005-2007 - or not at all for Season 7. It would take until the show's 20th anniversary in 2023 for the entire series to get a DVD release.
While the Fast Forward season was maligned for many reasons, a substantial amount of the blame is still heaped upon Cody Jones, due to how he was basically The Load added to the existing team dynamic of the turtles and Splinter, with most of the Fast Forward episodes based around him being a turtles fanboy and his uncle conspiring against him. He got more competent later in the season, but this lead to people having the opposite complaints—Cody became the one who ended up saving the day more often then not (especially in "Day of Awakening") which got him labelled as a Creator's Pet to some extent.
Starlee's family is rather annoying. Her mother is snobby and thinks of her species and planet as above others and acts rather rudely (she wrongly claims Starlee has gotten fat, she thinks Donatello is a criminal for wearing a mask, and asks if he's had his vaccination shots when he knocks everyone down to avoid getting hit by a laser). Her little brother also messes with things he's not supposed to touch and gets away with it apart from Starlee yelling at him. It's not much of a surprise to see why Starlee didn't want everyone to meet her family.
The Ninja Tribunal, due to a majority of them being huge assholes who constantly manipulate their disciples.
Khan isn’t well-regarded for being a flat, uninteresting second-in-command to Shredder with nothing else to him.
Torbin Zixx from Fast Forward tends to be disliked due to his Smug Snake personality, lack of redeeming qualities, and constantly conning the Turtles while seeing no punishment for it until "Zixxth Sense", which only happens at the end of Fast Forward.
The Season 6 RetoolFast Forward is when the rot began to firmly set in for the majority of viewers due to being much Lighter and Softer than previous seasons, altering the animation, its disliked premise of sending the Turtles to the future, and introducing The Scrappy Cody Jones.
The 7th and final season, Back to the Sewers, got even worse reception. Despite returning the show back to its present-day roots and bringing April and Casey back into the picture, it adopted a new art style that turned off many viewers, an unpopular focus on the Turtles going into cyberspace, and whatever seriousness that was still left over in the show from Fast Forward was thrown out altogether to make the show even goofier.
Stock Footage Failure: The opening for Back to the Sewer reuses a shot of the Turtles using their Season 1-5 designs, in addition to backgrounds from that era, which were much darker. The final shot of Leonardo punching the screen also has him wearing his Fast Forward belt from the season premiere.
Strangled by the Red String: Downplayed in regards to Chaplin’s attraction to Karai. He bases the Amazon bots after her appearance due to being smitten with her and her fighting capabilities, but the show doesn’t touch on it again until the final episodes of Season 5, when Chaplin refuses to leave Karai behind during the battle... and when Karai takes his hand as they leave the battlefield together. Both characters only make one more appearance in the final episode as guests at Casey and April’s wedding, so it’s left as an ambiguous Maybe Ever After.
Suspiciously Similar Song: The opening notes of the theme song to the 2003 series sound a lot like the opening notes to the Pepper Ann theme song.
The entire 2003 series got accused of this by fans of the '80s cartoon, with complaints that they wished it was more like the "original" series. The irony being that the 2003 series, was far more faithful to the REAL original Turtles of the comics, than the '80s series ever was. It was hit with this even more in Japan, where they were more fond of the 1987 Turtles.
Shredder being an Utrom caused quite an outrage.
One of the reasons Fast Forward is disliked, between the Lighter and Softer tone, more episodic storytelling, and the jarring shift in the show's premise and setting by transporting the turtles to the future.
Of the many complaints Back to the Sewers had, one of the biggest was the change in art style compared to the first six seasons. The removal of the turtles' Irisless Eye Mask Of Mystery in particular got more than a few complaints.
Or characters, in this case The Dark Turtles. Mostly due to their subplot being dropped to make way for Back to the Sewers. Dark Leo's time with the turtles in their final appearance suggested the four had a chance to turn good at some point, but this would never come to pass. Details of the cancelled second season/seventh confirms that they would come back and even fight on the turtles' side, becoming the future's version of the turtles eventually, but, since it was cancelled, that never happened and their status is left ambiguous.
The Rat King's appearance in "I, Monster" hints he'll reappear, but afterwards only cameos in the finale to Back to the Sewers.
Leatherhead just about vanishes from the series after Season 3. He puts in a major appearance for the "Good Genes" two-parter at the end of Season 4, but doesn't return until the final episode of Back to the Sewers. His absence is especially odd during the last episodes of Season 5, in which the Turtles round up all their local allies and enemies for their final battle with the Tengu Shredder.
Bishop fails to put in any sort of appearance during the final season bar a quick cameo in literally the final moments of the final episode.
T9851 could have made some appearance during the arc of mutations being caused by Bishop to get some closure, but remains absent throughout it and is left as a single-episode "Shaggy Dog" Story.
Mr. Touch and Mr. Go might have made nice additions to Hun's revamped Purple Dragons and help transition it for a street gang to something more organized but are never seen again. Likewise, it would have been interesting to see the more notable and long-lasting Purple Dragons goons who'd been with Hun for so long transitioning into the roles of more hi-tech, heist-oriented criminals throughout those episodes.
Given Season 5's connection to feudal Japan, it's kind of a shame that Usagi and Gen never made an appearance in that season.
In Season 3, the Turtles existence is revealed to the world's leaders by the Triceratons when Zanramon displays a captured Donnie to the world. Nothing ever comes of this, though the Earth was rather preoccupied with a hostile alien invasion of the planet and the recovery thereafter. The idea is touched upon again in "Aliens Among Us" when during the President’s press conference, an artist’s impression of what was likely his fearful description of the Turtles is displayed, but nothing comes of this either and it’s played as more of a gag anyway. Neither situation really came off as a public outing of the Turtles like in the spiritual attack in "Bad Day," so it’s not unreasonable that the show was not changed by either of these events.
The Triceratons never appear as a society again after the Season 3 opener. We never see if Traximus’s aim to reform the Republic pay off nor do we hear anything about it until the sixth season, in which its offhandedly mentioned that they’re not what they used to be, implying Traximus ultimately was successful in restoring the honor of his people.
Some of the ideas in Back to the Sewers, such as the one-year Time Skip, could have had interesting ramifications if they were properly explored.
One of the fantasy warriors from Kirby's world is seen at the Battle Nexus. The show likely was reusing an animation model, but some fans would have liked if he genuinely was from Kirby's dimension and if this could've led Donatello to reconnect with Kirby.
Beijing, the capital city of a superpower, spends several episodes floating in the air due to a gravity device that the Triceratons deploy during their invasion. The implications of this (what effect if any it has on the Chinese government structure, how the people in the isolated city view their predicament, how they feed themselves, etc.) had a lot of story potential. However, nothing about the people and society of the city are explained when the Turtles and the Foot Clan go to Beijing in "Mission of Gravity" and bring it back down to Earth.
The planned "Shredder War" for the show's eight season was set up to likely be the most exciting plot in the show, featuring a Mele A Trois between all three versions of the Shredder. Unfortunately, it became an Aborted Arc when the show was cancelled after the seventh season.
Fast Forward shifted the Turtles to the future and went for a more lighthearted tone and entirely new supporting cast, suggesting an attempt to gain new viewers, which alienated fans who preferred the darker prior seasons, but the season still adhered to the show's traditionally strong sense of continuity, often referencing plot points and characters from prior seasons who understandably weren't present due to the shift in setting (or in the case of Bishop and Baxter, were present), which left it difficult for newer fans to get into.
Back to the Sewers brought the Turtles back to the present day, pitting them against the Foot Clan, Purple Dragons, and some of their other rogues again, seemingly an attempt to win back prior fans, but retained the light-hearted tone of Fast Forward as well as became goofier, while also downplaying the series' previously strong continuity, likely to serve as a jumping on point for new fans. The result is that it wasn't very appealing to the established fanbase of the series for the change to the series' serialization, nor very appealing to potential new viewers who didn't follow the prior seasons.
Unintentional Period Piece: The show manages to be fairly timeless if obviously set in the very early 21st century. Occasionally some dated technology references pop up; in "Trouble with Augie," April’s sister Robin asks to use her desktop computer to check her email, when by the 2010’s anybody can check their email on their smartphone.
The entire plot of “Playtime’s Over” centers around Mikey trying to get a copy of the brand new game Helix 2. Nowadays that entire plot would be avoided by ordering or downloading it online. Jarringly, although that episode was released in 2006, it takes place in 2105.
April O'Neil's outfit of choice, a crop top and baggy cargo pants also reflects the fashion of the early 2000's as can be seen with characters of other shows of that time who dressed the same way like Kim Possible and Jean Grey. Thankfully, she doesn't suffer from a case of Limited Wardrobe so she does wear other outfits.
Unpopular Popular Character: To the Turtles, Splinter, Leatherhead, and many protagonists in modern times who know of his existence, Agent Bishop is hated and reviled, and for good reason, based on the number of times he's tortured them, kidnapped them, tried to dissect them, and generally made their lives miserable. Even in Fast Forward when Bishop has finally made the turn from villain to hero and is popular with the general populace, the Turtles still have an abrasive relationship with him at best, with Raphael in particular usually making snide remarks and taking verbal jabs at Bishop. To a lot of fans, however, Agent Bishop is bar none THE best character created for the show and has gone on to become perhaps the most iconic villain of the TMNT franchise not named Shredder. Him being a big enough hit with the fans was such that his character eventually became a Canon Immigrant to the IDW Comics and the 2012 TMNT show.
Values Dissonance: Jammerhead refers to the Turtles in "Playtime's Over" as "buggers" - whilst this is no more offensive than 'jerks' or 'boneheads' in America, in the UK this is quite a rude word, and not one you'd expect to hear in a children's show.
While the viewpoint still remains far from universal, the reception to Shredder being an Utrom has improved with the passage of time. As the reveal elevated the villain's potential from a human criminal mastermind with an army of ninjas to a cosmic-level threat capable of bringing the universe to its knees. In particular, it's not uncommon to note that Ch'rell is almost an amalgamation of Shredder's skill and strength as a Ninja combined with the intelligence of a much more sadistic Krang. Also with how ridiculous the TMNT franchise has become across its various incarnations, the idea of Shredder being an alien is simply no longer as unusual as it once was. Even those who still aren't fans of the idea will admit that, looking back, this version of the Shredder still has a lot of other traits they want to see out of the character.
While the sentiment isn't universal, the sixth season, Fast Forward, became a little better regarded over time than what it used to be back in the day. At the very least, it's seen as having an interesting if flawed concept that didn't fully get to grow and blossom, especially with regards to Space Usagi, the TriShreddatron, Leatherhead coming back, and the Dark Turtles making a full Heel–Face Turn in the unproduced FF episodes. And there were at least a few characters from this season who became popular enough that fans would like to see them in future installments such as Viral and the Dark Turtles or who did appear in future installments like the IDW series (ie: Dunn, Jammerhead, Torbin Zixx) but with the benefit of better writing. While very few people would list Fast Forward in their top five list of Ninja Turtles stories or installments, the season these days is being judged a little more fairly and enjoyed on its own merits rather than being compared to the previous Mirage-inspired seasons. And to really put things into perspective, even up to today, practically nobody is clamoring for Back to the Sewers characters like Khan or the Green Mantle to make any sort of comeback and those characters have largely faded into obscurity, whereas now fans are much more open to Fast Forward characters and concepts making their way into future TMNT media and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) has given a chance for some of those characters to have a second go in a new medium.
Win Back the Crowd: After the disappointing quality of both Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III and the later seasons of the 80s cartoon put an end to the initial Turtle mania wave, as well as Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation not helping at all, this show managed to prove that the franchise had staying power beyond its initial popularity.
Nano in its first couple of appearances. To recap, in Nano's first appearance, it's defeated by getting dropped into a vat of molten steel, and survived, only to get broken into pieces when it returned. An AI that's only a child at heart and doesn't fully understand right from wrong gets defeats more painful than what the villains in the series endure. Maybe that's why it got a happy ending after all.
Donatello has had to deal with some of the worst experiences over the course of the show. He's been in a Lotus-Eater Machine where he's seen Angel die before his eyes, been transported to a Bad Future, where he sees all of his brothers die before his eyes, and learns that Master Splinter and Casey Jones are already dead, been captured and Mind Raped by the Triceratons, and been infected by a mutant virus that turned him into a mindless savage beast and nearly killed him. All of this to the most peaceable, kindly turtle of the team.
Though not popular, Serling is probably one of the biggest woobies. Most, if not all the fans hate him and in-universe, the other characters treat him like a slave sans Splinter and Cody, suffers bad luck which is sometimes caused by his Butt-Monkey status, while other times, his pain and suffering is deliberately caused by the Turtles (i.e. trapping him inside a video game surrounded by extra lives that look and act like them). Honestly, it's a miracle he never tried to commit robot suicide.
The sheer fact that the writers seem to cause Leonardo the most emotional and physical pain out of any of the protagonists makes him a Woobie in the eyes of some fans. Throughout the course of the entire show he's typically the most likely to suffer a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, teeter on the brink of death, experience Heroic BSoD and is even acknowledged in one episode by Michelangelo to shoulder the majority of the responsibility so that his brothers are free to be themselves. What's more, his near decline into Knight Templar-hood in Season 4 as he struggled to deal with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder left many fans yearning to just wrap him in a blanket and give him a big hug.
Poor Leatherhead! He's been flushed down the toilet when he was barely more than a hatchling, rescued and reared by the Utroms, only to be left behind all alone when they returned to their own world, manipulated and lied to by Baxter Stockman, buried beneath a pile of rubble, tortured by Agent Bishop, which has left him with parts of his personality he must work hard to control, pursued by a crazed hunter, believed he'd badly hurt/killed Michelangelo in a fit of rage. Don't worry: Mikey was fine, which left him consumed with grief and believing he was nothing more than a monster and worthy of death, and finally his good friend Donatello was infected by Bishop's mutant virus and turned into a mindless monster. Leatherhead did eventually help Stockman to develop a cure for the virus in time to save Donny, but he was obviously deeply upset to see Donatello that way, and to be initially unable to help him. He may be one of the biggest and strongest heroes in the show, but it seems like just about every time he appears he's suffering from some kind of mental or physical anguish.
The Fugitoid/Professor Honeycutt: really depends on whether you find his personality + voice annoying or endearing.
One time character T9581. He started life as a human, got married and had a child, only to be mutated by Bishop into a hideous monster with apparently no way of communicating his feelings or intentions, was locked away in cryogenic stasis only to be freed by the Purple Dragons, who started to attack him, escaped from them only to be attacked by Leo and Casey who mistook him as dangerous, and then was attacked by Bishop and seemingly blown up. Although he escapes, he has no way of returning to his former life or family, and the last shot we see of him is the poor creature clinging to a buoy, gazing sadly at the gazebo where he got married. His whole story is a really tragic Tear Jerker.
Woobie Species: The Merpeople spend decades, if not centuries, as a horribly mistreated Slave Race. Then, after escaping and making a new life for themselves, they find themselves becoming a Dying Race due to industrial pollution.
Oroku Saki. He's only fought after you beat Shredder with all four Turtles and is supposed to be the toughest challenge. Unfortunately you've already gotten the Combination Attack allowing you to damage him for a good amount of health with three button uses. So it's only a matter of wittling away the rest.
Complacent Gaming Syndrome: Michelangelo is often the default choice for solo playthroughs thanks to his exploitable midair attack.
Any of the underground mutant creatures that spit acid will be the bane of your during this game.
The various Nano robots are extremely annoying to fight and can knock you back easily. To make matters worse, you'll probably go crazy fighting them just by their irritating sound effects constantly playing.
Game-Breaker: The Combination Attack in the console game. You get it after beating the Ordeal stage with all four Turtles. It's activated by a simple push of a button. It's drawback is that can only be used in the Story Mode 3 times in a level but all 3 uses can take a huge chunk of health from every boss. Even Oroku Saki himself.
Goddamned Bats: Foot Bees can be particularly annoying if they spawn with other enemies. Jump attacks are hard to get down and they have an attack which shoots four lasers, then spin them in a large circle.
No Problem with Licensed Games: The first console game has a cult following, thanks to its faithfulness to the cartoon, large battle arenas, and lots of content. The GBA game also has its share of fans for adapting the classic formula even better than the console version.
Razorfist from the "Notes From The Underground" stage. he blocks your attacks from the front, so logically that means that you should attack him from the back right? Unfortunately he's aware of that and uses a backslam against you if you linger too long from the back. His other attack is a high speed charge around the area that's hard to dodge.
King Nail, also from "Notes From The Underground," for everyone except Mikey. He hits hard and mostly spends his time in the air flying around the room making it hard to hit him. Michelangelo doesn't have that problem since his jump attack temporarily allows him to glide in the air and hit him more frequently and avoid some of his attacks.
Baxter Stockman, he's widely considered to be the hardest boss in the first game. He constantly fires homing fire balls, a gattling gun around him, and missiles from above. All of which are very hard to dodge. You can only damage his head which has a small hitbox but becomes bigger once the glass breaks when damaged enough. The good news is that he's only fought by Donatello in the main story, bad news is he's part of the challenge mode which you have to complete in order to unlock Master Yoshi for free battle. Donatello is often the last turtle players complete with just to get the Combination Attack to deal with Stockman.
The final fight with Mechaturtle can potentially be this if you aren't prepared for him mimicking your fighting style and know how to exploit it, he attacks fast and rarely stops moving and his attacks can easily chew through your health bar if you aren't paying attention. He also serves as a Wake-Up Call boss as he's more difficult then some bosses that come after him.
