‘The Simpsons’ has a great episode in which cartoon producer Roger Myers Jr., who runs the hit show ‘Itchy & Scratchy,’ tries to introduce new characters to the series to revive declining viewership. . Poochie, the sunglasses-wearing, surfboard-carrying dog that the studio came up with is “a dog with an attitude,” explained one of the network executives pushing the idea. “He’s sharp, he’s in your face. Have you ever heard the expression ‘let’s keep busy’?”Well this is the dog that gets Bizzai. Consistently and thoroughly. “
Poochie is a parody of various cartoon animals with group-friendly “attitudes”, from Sonic the Hedgehog to Tony the Tiger. is. An anthropomorphic reptilian creature with supernatural powers, who lives in the sewers of New York City, practices martial arts, eats pizza, and is “fearless” and “kowabunga.”
Originally created by comic artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird in 1983, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were a sort of postmodern, semi-ironic take on popular superhero comics of the time, notably Marvel’s Daredevil and the X-Men. It was conceived as Senpap. Punky, slang-laden and easy-going, they were the embodiment of a brand’s shrewd Gen X cool that peaked with his ’90s arrival. Circus, streetwise, surf his culture and hip hop.
The Ninja Turtles captured the zeitgeist in a way that kids couldn’t resist and felt the moment very much. What’s remarkable is that the moment isn’t over yet. Since its inception, the franchise has been repeatedly reinvented with new iterations including live-action features, after-school cartoons, video games, and graphic novels. Returning to Netflix with the new animated feature film, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie. The constant revitalization of a franchise that could easily become a relic of popular culture raises important questions.
How have the Ninja Turtles stayed popular for so long?
When I was a kid in the early 90’s my most prized possession was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pizza Throwa battery-powered, football-sized toy truck that makes incredible noises and gives off a faint smell of burning rubber, I used an “electric disc fire” mainly to terrorize my sister, who was very distressed. I used action.
The pizza thrower was the crown jewel of not only action figures and accessories, but a huge collection of Turtles-related merchandise that covered my suburban bedroom, including coloring books, costumes, lunch boxes, and PEZ dispensers. When I was 5, I had Turtles bedsheets. When I turned 6, I threw a Turtles-themed birthday party. In short, I was obsessed with the Turtles.
I was hardly alone. From the moment Eastman Andread’s original Ninja Turtles comic was syndicated for broadcast into his eponymous animated series in 1987, he has been named after Renaissance artists Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo and Leonardo. At its core are four super-strong and wise reptilian heroes. The franchise winks in his typical way of humor—a bona fide matinee. He became an idol, a comic book superstar, beloved by kids all over North America and beyond.
Like G.I. Created to advertise tie-in toys. In his first four years of what came to be called Turtlemania, more than $1 billion in Turtles toys were sold worldwide, making him the third best-selling toy in the toy franchise at the time. .
The success continued into the 90’s. In the animated “Turtles” series, the characters trained under a teacher, a mouse called Splinter, while battling an enemy, the evil Shredder, and ran for ten seasons. A trilogy of live-action films aimed at slightly older audiences — Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), The Secret of the Ooze (1991), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993). — was a surprise box office hit. A sensation, earning around $350 million, break box office records for independent productionAn early “Turtles” video game, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time, became a bestseller on the Super Famicom. One of the best games of its generation.
The Turtles’ versatility across various media properties helped amplify their popularity. Further adaptations, including several efforts to completely overhaul or reboot the franchise, have kept The Turtles fresh throughout the 2000s, albeit to varying degrees of effect. Both Nickelodeon’s 2012 digital animated series ran for multiple seasons and had a cult following. 2007 animated film, simply called “TMNT” Michael Bay co-produced big-budget blockbusters Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016) Both were commercial successes, but they were not well received. by both critics and fans of his longtime franchise.
These more recent iterations of ‘The Turtles’ – no doubt including TV’s latest, animated reboot. “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (2018) revamped elements of its basic premise and implemented some pretty drastic character redesigns — introducing younger audiences to the franchise, many of whom were arguably looking for new “Turtles” merchandise. was
But a key factor in the Ninja Turtles’ continued popularity is the very fans who loved them as kids. Their nostalgia effectively fueled the continued relevance of a franchise that otherwise might have been He-Man or Garbage Pail Kids and faded into quirky obsolescence.
Recently I know a man in his early 40s with a giant ninja turtle tattoo on his right forearm. I know his CrossFit coach in his late 30s. He names his workouts after Turtles settings and bad guys: Sewers, Shredder, Bebop, and Rocksteady. A new video game, Teenage His Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, was built from the ground up as a faithful replica of the Turtles games of the early 1990s.When new movies on Netflixadmittedly goofy, but surprisingly dark and violent for a movie ostensibly for children — until you realize it’s probably not for children.
As a child, I found Ninja Turtles’ seemingly grown-up style of action and humor essential to its appeal. Of course, it was a family cartoon, but the attitude of being hip, rebellious and a bit subversive made it seem like kids were being used for something more ambitious than other cartoons on television at the time. I think what many fans have returned is a sense of spiky coolness that the Turtles would have called boldness.
