Nick's TMNT

11 minute episodes? It seems everyone is doing 11 minute episodes nowadays. Just because Adventure Time and Steven Universe do it doesn't mean you have to. Although Justice League Action is also 11 minutes and that turned out good.

Even then there are those (myself included) that would prefer Adventure Time and especially Steven Universe to be longer.

First look at John Cena's character, Baron Draxum.

BBBBRAAAAAAPPPAAADOOOUGH!

Looks like a Ben 10 villain.

Is that good or bad?

Some of the villains from the last TV show looked like Ben 10 villains too, so I don't think it's a bad thing per se.

Huh, nobody seemed to have shared this yet.

Weird.

I like the new version of the opening, especially better than the 2012's remix. The animation also looks better than expected.

...Otherwise there doesn't feel like much to go off of. A little more cautiously optimistic, though.

edited 24th Mar '18 8:41:18 PM by Etheru

It's like Raph was dropped in from the Bayverse but nobody else was. ...And uh, it looks better than the Next Mutation.

It's funny how each cartoon is really great representative of it's generation of cartoons. Fred Wolf's TMNT defined cartoons of 80's: cheap animation, toy commercials, recycled plots, goofy, huge amount of episodes, inconsistent animation....Fox Kids's TMNT showed more mature storytelling, more faithful adaptation of source material and generally kind of care you wouldn't expect from cartoons before that. Also a bit of stillness (some scenes of them using skateboards and other x-treme stuff, slang like "what the shell") and lower quality in last seasons. Nick's TMNT is time when we can really find balance between kids stuff and serious stuff with both goofy and dramatic episodes, strong continuity, great creativity with characters designs and concepts, numerous possible couples that don't go anywhere to tease shippers...Rise of TMNT might be coming really fast after last cartoon but a lot of has changed in these 6 years and Rise already seems to be representing all the modern trends - starting with 11 minutes format.

Say, I kinda lost touch with last cartoon at later seasons. Were all the plot points wrapped up for good? I mean, I suppose that Kraang and Foot were finally defeated, but did any romantic sub-threads got anywhere or is April still stuck in love triangle between Don and Casey? Also, did any mutant got de-mutated or is city still infested with monsters? Spider Bytez, Baxter, Mutagen Man, anyone? I mean, I'm assuming that people turned into Kraang zombies and Karai will get better.

The love triangle was never resolved, none of the mutants got de-mutated (not even Karai, who did still get better mentally), and the Kraang zombies got fixed.

And it all capped off with a (depending on who on the crew you believe, supposedly canon) series finale where the world got fucked by a Mutagen Bomb (rendering the human race extinct) and the Turtles spent 50 years separated from each other before meeting again. Most of the side-characters' fates are left unresolved here too.

Ironically, I actually enjoyed Season 5's episodes more than the previous four seasons, because new writers didn't have to continue on the baggage of ones that left, and the stories became more creative and unique rather than the (sometimes shallow, I feel) retreading of old ground.

edited 24th Mar '18 11:44:31 PM by Etheru

Okay the animation here looks pretty slick, especially that pommel duel Raph was in.

Still can't get used to April's design though.

I kind of wonder, looking at Baron Draxum's design and some backstory tidbits (particularly regarding that he's from "The Hidden City") if he's Y'Lyntian.

Pulling stuff from the 2003 cartoon? LOL

If they do that and actually try to keep it accurate unlike with Bishop and Hun, I'll film myself eating dog food.

I can dream.

EDIT: Rise of the TMNT Behind The Scenes.

edited 27th Apr '18 8:29:39 PM by Etheru

The stylish full intro of Rise of the TMNT was just uploaded today.

I like the mixture of 2D traditional animation and 3D animation (mainly the backgrounds). The vibrancy of the colors is really cool, too.

Also, Leo can apparently cut portals into existence (but quite inconsistently).

I'm going to assume that this series will have mostly new characters, rather than bringing Rat King, Bebob & Rocksteady, Hun etc. Nice intro, though it makes me think about these 80s openings which were much more energetic than animation in actual shows.

Double post because few episodes came out already, or at least were posted on Nick.com as a preview.

I thought the pilot was okay, but kind of bogged down by how quickly it moved and how the show seemed to take for granted that the audience would be familiar with the characters, but not showing off what's all that different, seeming to think the changes spoke for themselves.

That being said, I liked the fight scenes and animation, and Michelangelo's characterization was, from little bits in the pilot, much more reasonable than his immediate predecessor (being somewhere between a broker between his brothers and light comic relief, along with the "artist" angle). Some of the jokes hit well too, namely Donatello refusing his magic weapon and poking fun at how "ridiculously futuristic" his staff is. Do think that they stuffed a few too many in, though.

I'll try and give it some time. It might be worthwhile.

Raph is the leader?

...Raph is the leader?!

Why is the angry guy who hits things suddenly the leader? And what's Leo supposed to do?! And why do they suck so much at being ninjas all the sudden?

Well he is the self-appointed leader actually.

Their doing things a bit differently here due to it being a prequel in the sense that the turtles training compared to most incarnations isn't actually finished yet so they still have a ways to go.

These changes extends to the team dynamics. Raph is still a prick he's just arrogant prick who automatically assumes he'd be a great leader despite clearly being incompetent at it. Leo is a prodigy who has the greatest ninja potential he's just a in a freedom phase so he's not at the dutiful son stage yet.

Apparently one source of humor may be Leo nonchalantly criticizing Raph's moments of ineptitude at being leader showing that he could easily do better if he really wanted too.

I have to admit its certainly an interesting interpenetration of the team especially since Mikey is now the group mediator since Leo is the wild-child this time. Not sure about Donny though, he seems the same as always. The techie only way better than most Donnie incarnations at this point in their lives.

Edited by slimcoder on Jul 30th 2018 at 1:47:50 AM

The origami ninja episode showed that Leo has the potential for leadership, at least.

Saw the first episode/pilot. I love this. Funny as all heck, awesome fight scenes, extremely high-energy pace and wow John Cena is actually a really good voice actor.

Status quo getting mixed up a bit is fine, they're keeping things fresh while still respecting previous iterations. Raphael is less "angry loner" and more "tough older brother" so the leadership shift does work. The character designs making all the turtles more distinctive is really good and this is so far easily my favorite incarnation of April yet.

A+++