Trivia / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze

• Acting for Two:
  • Besides reprising his role as Michelangelo, Michelan Sisti plays a SoHo man whom April encounters on her way back to her apartment.
  • Leif Tilden was Donatello's performer as well as one of the Foot members in the junkyard.
  • Mark Caso plays Leonardo as well as the news staffer who informs April about the Turtles' call.
  • Mak Wilson was Michelangelo's animatronic puppeteer and the Dockshore Club promoter's aide.
  • Tokka and Rahzar are both voiced by Frank Welker.
  • In the Japanese theatrical release, Shōzō Iizuka voices Rahzar, the Dockshore Club promoter and Chief Sterns.
• B-Team Sequel: The first film was directed by Steve Barron, while this one was directed by Michael Pressman.
• Cast the Expert: Ernie Reyes Jr., who was Donatello's fight double in the first film, was cast as a new character, Keno, as the producers admired Reyes and his performance in the first movie so much they asked him to join the sequel.
• Completely Different Title: In Spain, it was called Las Tortugas Ninja II: El Secreto De Los Mocos Verdes ("The Ninja Turtles II: The Secret Of The Green Boogers"), and in France, Les Tortues Ninja 2: Les Héros sont de retour ("The Ninja Turtles 2: The Heroes are Back").
• Descended Creator: Michael Pressman plays Phil, April's news manager.
• Directed by Cast Member: The Italian dub was directed by Tonino Accolla, who was also Leonardo's voice actor.
• Disowned Adaptation: Based on a ranking of the films he did, Peter Laird seems to dislike this movie, as he ranked it his least favorite of the original live action films and below the animated TMNT, with only the Platinum Dunes produced films going any lower. Kevin Eastman also considers this movie as the worst amongst the three live action movies from The '90s.
• Dueling Dubs:
  • As with the previous film, there were two Japanese dubs. In addition to its 1992 theatrical release, there was another one made for its home media releases since 1993. Both dubs feature Gara Takashima as April O'Neil.
  • There's two Latin American Spanish dubs: The first one was done in Argentina, and another one done in Mexico. The Mexican dub was done in order to replace the Argentinian one, as it was notorious for its uneven quality and thick Argentinian accents.
• Executive Meddling: The film was Lighter and Softer after parents complained that the first film was too violent. As such, the "weapons" used in this movie, like sausage links, could be easily found in households, as opposed to the actual ninja stars and swords in the first movie.
  • Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird didn't want to see Bebop and Rocksteady, or Krang, or any of the other goofy characters from the cartoon show in the movies. However, the studio wanted Bebop and Rocksteady to appear, but since both co-creators were still not in favor of it, Tokka and Rahzar were created as a compromise.
  • Eastman and Laird both felt that the Shredder should not have appeared in the second movie. Laird even planned a scene where a garbage man found Shredder's helmet, crushed and twisted which would have been a subtle enough way to refer to his ambiguous fate from the first film and set the scene for his appearance in a third TMNT movie. However, the producers wanted the movie to be closer to the cartoon and therefore decided to have Shredder return in this movie instead.
• In Memoriam: The Secret of the Ooze was dedicated to Jim Henson, who died one year before the film's release.
• No Stunt Double: Ernie Reyes Jr. did his own stunts as Keno, including the opening scene where he fights the robbers.
• On-Set Injury:
• The Other Darrin:
  • Paige Turco replaced Judith Hoag as April. Hoag wasn't asked to return because the director was unhappy when she defended the way they mistreated the stunt doubles and their unfair schedule changes.
  • Corey Feldman voiced Don only for the first and third movies as, during production of the second, he was battling drug addiction and had to get life back on track. Thus, the character was voiced by Adam Carl.
  • Laurie Faso and Kenn Scott replace Josh Pais as the voice and suit actor of Raphael (who were in turn replaced with Tim Kelleher and Matt Hill respectively in the third movie).
  • David Foreman was replaced by Mark Caso as the suit actor for Leonardo. He is the only one of the Turtles' suit actors to reprise the role in the next movie.
  • François Chau replaced James Saito as Shredder's on-set actor, though his lines were still looped by David McCharen.
  • In the Japanese dubs, everyone besides Yūji Mitsuya (Michelangelo in the theatrical release) and Hōchū Ōtsuka (Leonardo in the home media release) was recast.
  • In the Canadian French dub, Raphael is voiced by Benoît Rousseau, replacing Bernard Fortin who voiced him in the first movie.
  • In the Italian dub, Tonino Accolla voices Leonardo instead of Danilo De Girolamo, Francesco Prando voices Michelangelo instead of Teo Bellia, Mino Caprio voices Donatello instead of Fabrizio Vidale, Massimo Corvo voices Raphael instead of Mauro Gravino, Sergio Fiorentini voices Splinter instead of Giorgio Lopez, Silvia Pepitoni voices April O'Neil instead of Rossella Izzo, Mario Bombardieri voices Chief Sterns instead of Giampiero Albertini and Diego Reggente voices the Shredder instead of Glauco Onorato.
• The Other Marty: According to Kevin Nash himself, the Super Shredder costume was originally intended to be worn by Kevin Peter Hall - a.k.a. the original Predator himself. Unfortunately, Hall passed away before this idea came to fruition; hence why Nash took over the role.
• Playing Against Type: David Warner, who is known to play nasty baddies like Jon Irenicus, is playing a kindhearted scientist.
• Real-Life Relative: Michael Pressman directed the film and had a minor role as Phil. His late parents Sasha and David Pressman portrayed the couple who witnesses Tokka and Rahzar's attack on the city, while his wife Lisa Chess portrayed the Dockshore Club dancer who gets abducted by the Shredder, and his cousin Susie Essman played the SoHo woman April encounters on her way back to the apartment.
• Refitted for Sequel:
  • A very minor case, but still. Donnie's "eclectic" joke was supposed to be used in the extended farm training scene in the first movie, but when that was cut, it seems to have found its way into this movie.
  • The test with Keno regarding removing training bells with a dummy was also supposed to have been seen in the first film with Tatsu training one of the rookie Foot Ninjas rather than Keno.
• Role Reprise: In the Mexican dub, Luis Daniel Ramírez and Eduardo Garza reprise their roles as Leonardo and Donatello respectively from the dub of the 2003 series.
• Throw It In!:
  • At the the end of Keno's first fight, his line "Stay down" was improvised.
  • Mikey's actor Michelan Sisti lost grip of the pizza slice during the anti-mutagen scene, but everyone just rolled with it. Help that it was in keeping with his character too.
• What Could Have Been:
  • In the original draft, the ending would've revealed that Professor Perry was actually an Utrom. It got cut supposedly because people would confuse him with Krang. Much foreshadowing ended up left in the movie though. Perry immediately recognizes what happened to the Turtles upon first meeting them, and even describes the very accident that led to them coming in contact with the ooze down to the year. He even has suspiciously portentous lines like "Sometimes the best way to hide is right out in public," and "You're the last one, aren't you?" If you pay attention, during the two scenes at T.G.R.I., there appears to be a large rock-like object encased in glass with numerous computers plugged into it. And April later mentions in her news report that the company mysteriously (and literally) "disappeared". The most bizarre effect of this though is the resulting Non-Indicative Title - the "secret of the ooze" is the fact that it's alien in origin, but got cut from the movie!
    • Hilarious in Hindsight when one thinks about it because Michael Bay originally wanted to have the Ninja Turtles be aliens which the idea was eventually scrapped. He must have figured out the secret of the ooze as well. Before that was the 1995 Power Rangers movie where we have Ivan Ooze who is of alien origin. And guess what powers did the Rangers get? Ninjetti or Ninja Ranger Powers in other words. Years later, we have an actual crossover between the Power Rangers and Ninja Turtles and we know that aliens are commonly found in space on other planets. Some more years later, we have a 2017 Power Rangers movie where the arsenals are of alien origins. Incidentally, excluding Michael Bay's TMNT movie, everything else belonged to Saban around those periods of time.
  • As mentioned above, Bebop and Rocksteady were originally going to appear before being replaced with Tokka and Razhar.
  • The main villain for the film was intended to be Baxter Stockman, due to being the second villain the Turtles face in the original Mirage Studios comics. But time and budgetary reasons were unable to create the robotic Mousers.
• You Look Familiar:
  • Ernie Reyes Jr., Donatello's fight double in the first film, plays Keno in The Secret of the Ooze.
  • Michelan Sisti, the SoHo man whom April encounters in her first scene, also played Tony in the first film.
  • Michelangelo's Japanese voice actor for the home media release, Bin Shimada, dubbed Raphael in the first film's VHS release.
  • In the Canadian French dub, Raphael is voiced by Benoît Rousseau, who voiced two minor characters in the first film: the passenger in the taxicab and the Channel 3 technician who times April. Also, Hubert Gagnon voiced both Charles Pennington in the first film and Professor Jordan Perry in this sequel. Lastly, Keno is voiced by Jacques Lussier, who also voiced the Head Thug in the first film.
• Your Size May Vary: Due to changes in the suit actors of both the characters, Raph goes from being the tallest turtle in the first movie to being slightly shorter than Leo here (and that height order is maintained in both Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III and TMNT). Given they are teenagers, it can be explained that they are still growing as of now.

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