Trivia / Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation

• Acting for Two: Michael Dobson voices Leonardo and appears onscreen as Mick, one of Silver's goons. He also voices the radio newscaster at the end of "Going Ape".
• Actor Allusion: Actor Garry Chalk, who plays Silver, an ape in Next Mutation, also plays ape Transformer Optimus Primal.
• Approval of God: In contrast to Peter Laird, the franchise's other co-creator Kevin Eastman actually likes Venus de Milo as a character and even hopes that she can make a comeback someday now that the franchise is out of Laird's hands. As of 2022, he got his wish due to the character being heavily reimagined for the IDW continuity.
• California Doubling: The series takes place in New York, but was actually filmed in Vancouver. There are many giveaways, including recognizable Vancouver landmarks like the Science World and a sign pointing to Ontario Street. Plus everyone in the cast is trying their damnedest to sound American.
• Completely Different Title: The German dub titles the series Die Ninja Turtles ("The Ninja Turtles").
• Creator's Pest: Venus de Milo to Peter Laird, again.
• Cross-Cast Role: Master Splinter's suit actor was Fiona Scott.
• Disowned Adaptation: To say that franchise co-creator Peter Laird didn't think highly of this series would be a huge understatement. He especially loathed Venus de Milo to the point that he forbade her from ever being so much as mentioned in any other continuity for the duration that the franchise was in his hands. Many believed that the same held true for the franchise's other co-creator Kevin Eastman, but the trope above, along with promotional images from when the series was released prove otherwise. Laird also hated the cheesy and overly silly tone of the series. That said, he agreed in his blogs that outside of some changes, the costumes were well done.
• Edited for Syndication: Many establishing shots featuring the World Trade Center were either cut out or digitally altered when the show was rerun around the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
  • The UK release (the one Jetix uses for their DVDs) not only uses the "Hero Turtles" branding; but cuts out anywhere between 2-4 minutes of most episodes. While some of these are for time and others for censorship, there are instances where the edits can greatly affect the episode's plot, or just occur for no reason. On the flip side, however, they actually retained Shredder's "But the rat had a stick" line from the first episode, which is removed from all other versions for some reason.
• Executive Meddling:
  • It was believed that Venus De Milo's creation was a result of this, though it wasn't confirmed until this interview with Kevin Eastman, where he stated that Venus was supposed to be the fifth turtle Kirby from the scrapped fourth live-action film, but was made female at the insistence of Fox Network head Margaret Loesch.
  • Not during the show's production, but still related to it regardless. Peter Laird's hatred of this incarnation led to Venus De Milo not returning in the 2003 cartoon and all future incarnations that were under his rule. In fact, even mentioning her was forbidden outside franchise retrospectives and history books. Only now is there even a possibility of such a thing happening due to the franchise now being out of Laird's hands, which (as noted below) happened in the IDW series.
• Exiled from Continuity: Due to Peter Laird's immense hatred of Venus, he did not allow her to make an appearance or even be referenced in other Ninja Turtles continuities. The Next Mutation didn't even show up in the multiverse scene in Turtles Forever, although this one might have been more about The Next Mutation being owned by a different company. It wouldn't be until 2022, decades after the show had first aired, when the IDW comics would bring a new version of Venus in, and even then, her backstory was completely overhauled.
• Franchise Killer: This show was made as an attempt to save the franchise, but its failure marked the end of the initial wave of Turtlemania. It was not until the fourth volume of the Mirage comics was launched in 2001, the success of which led to the 2003 animated series, that the brand was revived.
• God Never Said That: While Peter Laird's hatred of Venus de Milo is rather well-known, many fans who disliked the character mistakenly believed that the franchise's other co-creator Kevin Eastman had the same opinion on Venus. An interview with Eastman after Nickelodeon obtained the rights to the franchise, however, proved that Kevin likes Venus and hopes for her to make a comeback someday, which finally happened in the IDW comics in 2022.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Nickelodeon owning the franchise, and Saban getting the rights back were probably the only reasons this show was finally able to be released on DVD in 2012 (at least, in America).
• The Other Darrin: The crossover with Power Rangers in Space had to use different actors for the Turtles because Power Rangers in Space was an American series and Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation was produced in Canada. While Uncredited due to union issues (a problem Next Mutation itself avoided due to being shot in Vancouver), Tony Oliver replaces Kirby Morrow as the voice of Michelangelo, with fellow Power Rangers regulars Ezra Weisz and Kim Strauss taking over as Donatello and Raphael from Jason Gray-Stanford and Matt Hill, respectively. Leonardo and Venus de Milo's respective voice actors, Michael Dobson and Lalainia Lindbjerg, were replaced by Michael Reisz and Tifanie Christun.
• Out of Order: Besides the Five-Episode Pilot "East Meets West", none of the official episode orders are consistent with what order they should be viewed.
• Role Reprise: Of a sort. Matt Hill, who voices Raphael here, previously was his suit actor on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III.
• Show Accuracy/Toy Accuracy:
  • Splinter has brown fur and, as in the live-action films, has one of his ears slashed off, but his action figure in the show's toyline gives him grayish fur and has both of his ears intact.
  • The Dragon Lord has a distinctly reptilian face, complete with pronounced spikes along his brow and jawline. The action figure wears a white suit and mask and from what little can be made of his face, he's likely more human-looking.
• What Could Have Been:
  • If the series had continued past the first season Splinter would have been Killed Off for Real (probably by the Dragon Lord). Some fans think this dramatic development just might have been worth putting up with everything else.
  • Season 2 also apparently would have been animated and introduced April O' Neil and Casey Jones. The season finale also greatly hinted that The Shredder would have become the next season's Big Bad.
  • According to the book Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Visual History, the fifth turtle Kirby from the scrapped fourth live-action film was supposed to be the fifth turtle in this series, but Saban refused to make the show unless the fifth turtle was female.
  • The series was touted in some of the promotional material as a continuation of the 1987 cartoon.
  • Leo was originally going to wear a yellow bandanna, which could be seen in early promotional images, some TV promos, and the intro. This was presumably done to differentiate him from Venus, who wore a cyan bandanna, but that begs the question of why they couldn't have simply just given her the yellow bandanna. In the final product, Leo's bandanna was blue again, albeit a darker shade. The yellow bandana was later reused for Jennika in the IDW continuity.
  • On the subject of the bandannas, early images for the toyline showed Venus wearing a pink bandanna.

---