History WesternAnimation / TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987

* BellyDancer: April and Irma are dressed like this in the episode "Shredderville".

** When the Turtles are seen playing video games, sometimes the sound effects are taken from the ill-fated UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}} version of ''VideoGame/PacMan''.

* MagicFloppyDisc: Frip, an alien from the planet Polarisoid, has a camera that literally sucks in matter regardless of its size with endless capacity for space. It runs on videotape.

In July 2023, Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}, the owner of the IP since 2009, bought the rights to the 1987 series, which is ironic since CBS is now its sister company and another one of its sister companies, CBS Media Ventures, is descended in part from Group W Productions. This made the show the oldest animated series under Nick control, predating the first offical Nicktoons by 4 years.[[note]] It is ''not'', however, the oldest owned by Paramount Global, as the company owns the rights to [[WesternAnimation/TheFonzAndTheHappyDaysGang several]] [[WesternAnimation/LaverneAndShirleyInTheArmy Hanna-Barbara]]/[[TheBradyKids Filmation]] [[WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries adaptations]] of its live-action properties which predate even the original comics.[[/note]]

In July 2023, Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}, the owner of the IP since 2009, bought the rights to the 1987 series, which is ironic since CBS is now its sister company and another one of its sister companies, CBS Media Ventures, is descended in part from Group W Productions. This made the show the oldest animated series under Nick control, predating the first offical Nicktoons by 4 years.<note>It is ''not'', however, the oldest owned by Paramount Global, as the company owns the rights to [[WesternAnimation/TheFonzAndTheHappyDaysGang several]] [[WesternAnimation/LaverneAndShirleyInTheArmy Hanna-Barbara]]/[[TheBradyKids Filmation]] [[WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries adaptations]] of its live-action properties which predate even the original comics.</note>

In July 2023, Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}, the owner of the IP since 2009, bought the rights to the 1987 series, which is ironic since CBS is now its sister company and another one of its sister companies, CBS Media Ventures, is descended in part from Group W Productions. This made the show the oldest animated series under Nick control, predating the first offical Nicktoons by 4 years.

See also: Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles (franchise page), the [[Characters/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles franchise character sheet]], and the page for ''ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesAdventures'', the comic book based on the animated series.

* GutturalGrowler: Casey Jones, with a slight Eastwood accent. [[TheUnReveal He never takes off his hockey mask in this incarnation]].

* ThreeAmigos: The Neutrinos.

* ADayInTheLimelight: There were a few of these in the series.
** "Bebop and Rocksteady Conquer The Universe" is one episode that gives focus to Bebop and Rocksteady
** Irma too, in episodes like "Turtle Terminator", "Attack of The 50 Foot Irma", and "Super Irma".

** Mr. Ogg, an alien with mannerisms and a laugh similar to Creator/PeeWeeHerman.

* AnimationBump: More times than possibly any cartoon in the '80s and '90s. The animation style could go from being horrible to decent, sometimes ''in a single episode.'' The first two seasons each kept with a single animation studio (Toei for Season 1, and A-1 Productions for Season 2), but the seasons grew much longer starting with Season 3, resulting in animation being farmed out to several different studios[[labelnote:*]]These included Toei, Creator/WangFilmProductions, Creator/PacificRimAnimation, Creator/LukFilm, Creator/KyungKang, Creator/IslandAnimation, Creator/VargaStudio, Creator/StudioCockpit, Creator/HanhoHeungUp, and Seo Gwang. With several episodes by an unknown Japanese studio (possibly [[Creator/KKCAndDAsia K.K.C&D Asia]] or otherwise), none of them credited[[/labelnote]]. This continued until the "Red Sky" era, where the seasons got cut down to eight episodes each and a single studio (this time Creator/DaiWon Animation[[note]]and Creator/MorningSun for Season 9 [[/note]]) became sufficient to handle all the show's animation again.

** One episode has a turtle talking about "[[Film/BackToTheFuture jamming the flux capacitor]]".

* {{Catchphrase}}: Several, with "Cowabunga" being far and away the most recognizable.

** A relatively mild case -- the show's tone and overall storyline remained pretty much intact from the first few episodes until the "Red Sky" era. The big differences were in the way the first season was animated, with a much more obvious anime/manga influence, but also being prone to moments of sloppiness and OffModel characters. Raphael was also more similar to his comic counterpart initially, to the point where he threatened to ''kill Baxter Stockman'' if he wouldn't tell the turtles where Shredder was.

* TheGenericGuy: Leonardo when compared to his siblings. Some episodes tried to give him quirks of his own but sadly none of them stuck.
** This was actually deliberate, as Leonardo is described by the voice actors as "the setup guy", who allows the other characters to follow through with a great line.

** Synapse in the Red Sky episode "H.A.V.O.C. In The Streets". Donatello defeats the electric mutant created by Titanus by [[spoiler: sending him through a ham radio, leaving him permanently trapped on the radio airwaves forever.]]

** Played straight in "Carter The Enforcer". in which a pair of time travelers bring the Turtles forward to see what their twenty-years-later future is like: a dark dystopian world dominated by the alien warlord Dregg, where the Turtles are long dead. [[spoiler: Fortunately the Turtles are able to avert this future by changing the timeline.]]

** [[spoiler: Donatello]] when he becomes the Dark Turtle.

%%** Mondo Gecko to Michaelangelo, [[spoiler: at least until his HeelFaceTurn.]]

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** [[spoiler: Landor and Marik pull one of these in their first appearance to save the turtles.]]
** Subverted with [[spoiler: Krakus, when he willingly allows himself to be mutated to save April, but is unaware that his mutation is actually temporary, and reverts back to normal after he saves her.]]

* HotGod: [[spoiler: April wearing a magical amulet]] in the episode "The Lost Queen Of Atlantis".

* IKnowMaddenKombat: Casey Jones attacked villains with various sports equipment like baseball bats and hockey sticks. [[spoiler: In Season 8, he gets a sword and faces off against Shredder, [[FridgeBrilliance which could be a fencing reference.]]]]

* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: The Channel 6 building by Shredder in the first episode of Season 8.]]

* ParentheticalSwearing: After [[spoiler: Shredder destroys the Channel 6 building, with the turtles thinking their friends were still inside]] Leonardo's line "You miserable maggot!" is said with so much bile and restrained fury that one can easily hear him say "You lousy son of a bitch!"

* RightHandHottie: Haypax Legomina to Alim [[spoiler: after he becomes king.]]

** Buffy Shellhammer, who was able to use Shredder's own technology against him and trick him into making the wrong formula to free the Technodrome. [[spoiler: Instead of rocket fuel, it turned out to be firework fuel.]]

** Shredder, when he's the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive chairman]] of Octopus Inc. He actually gets things right, with frightening (for the Turtles) results. [[spoiler: Until a sprinkling of water changes things]]. This was before the Red Sky seasons.

** Also Haypax Legomina to Alim, [[spoiler: which is why she is made his personal adviser when he becomes king.]]

** "I never bluff!" [[spoiler: The line Shredder says before he destroys the Channel 6 news building in the first episode of Season 8.]]
** Also in "Donatello's Degree", the end of the first act features Donatello being attacked by two nerdy henchmen of the BigBad and saying that they must be joking to take him on. The henchmen quickly bulk up and respond "If we're joking,[[spoiler: [[OhCrap then you're about to ''die'' laughing!]]]]
** And in "My Brother The Bad Guy", the end of the second act has Splinter facing off against the Kojima Brothers, [[spoiler: who were recently resurrected and saying that they have been deceased for centuries and that he doesn't believe in ghosts.]] The Kojima Brothers response to Splinter is [[spoiler: "It is not necessary for you to believe in us for us to destroy you!"]]

* WhamEpisode: The first episode of Season 8 ''Get Shredder'' mainly because of the ending [[spoiler: where Shredder destroys the Channel 6 news building.]]

* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: In a later season we learn that [[spoiler: Leonardo]] [[CompressedVice is terrified of snakes]].

* OffModel: The show fell victim to this quite a bit, especially in later seasons. ''The Grybyx'' is a good example, and ''Mister Ogg Goes To Town'' in its entirety qualifies for this.
** A good indication to discern whether or not an episode was animated in Japan is if the characters on the wall scroll in the Turtle's lair is spelled correctly (日本, [[MeaningfulName which means]] Japan).
*** The shading and overall drawing quality of the Japanese-animated episodes tend to be a little better than the other episodes as well, but even there, there are coloring errors and some wonky movements; it's the action sequences where they shined. This is particularly evident in Creator/ToeiAnimation's episodes in Season 1.
** The Season 3 episodes handled by Creator/WangFilmProductions stand out for being more rubbery, fluid and bouncy than the other studios, but at the cost of consistency, as the style changes often between both scene to scene ''and'' sometimes from shot to shot.
** The ''Vacation in Europe'' episodes are probably the worst for this, as they were animated by a European studio (IDHH) with a much smaller budget than the rest of the series. Season 9, which switched over to Creator/MorningSun instead of then usual studio Creator/DaiWon, suffers a similar issue.
** Several Season 3 episodes, as well as the first half of Season 4 were animated in Dublin with some uncredited assistance from Creator/VargaStudio. Fans generally consider these episodes to be among the poorest in regards to the show's animation, due to how choppy everything moves and sloppy everything looks.
** The animation quality was the butt of the show's jokes every now and again during the earlier seasons.

* {{Bishonen}}: The Shredder looks rather feminine without his helmet on.

* AnimationBump: More times than possibly any cartoon in the '80s and '90s. The animation style could go from being horrible to decent, sometimes ''in a single episode.'' The first two seasons each kept with a single animation studio (Toei for Season 1, and A-1 Productions for Season 2), but the seasons grew much longer starting with Season 3, resulting in animation being farmed out to several different studios[[labelnote:*]]These included Toei, Creator/WangFilmProductions, Creator/PacificRimAnimation, Creator/LukFilm, Creator/KyungKang, Creator/IslandAnimation, Creator/VargaStudio, Creator/StudioCockpit and Creator/HanhoHeungUp. With several episodes by an unknown Japanese studio, none of them credited[[/labelnote]]. This continued until the "Red Sky" era, where the seasons got cut down to eight episodes each and a single studio (this time Creator/DaiWon Animation[[note]]and Creator/MorningSun for Season 9 [[/note]]) became sufficient to handle all the show's animation again.