Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 TV series)


Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an American animated television series, based on the fictional comic book characters of the same name. The series premiered on February 8, 2003 as part of the Fox's FoxBox programming block and ended on March 27, 2010.
The series was announced in May 2002 and is co-produced by 4Kids Entertainment and franchise creators Mirage Studios, which co-owned rights to the show, with animation provided by the studio Dong Woo.

Series overview

Unlike the 1987 TV series, the 2003 series more closely matches the tone of the original comics, with a greater emphasis on action and themes of familial bonds. As a result, the 2003 series is more adult-oriented, while still being considered appropriate for younger audiences. The series adapts a large scope of story arcs from the comics, with the Turtles' adventures combining elements of both fantasy and science fiction. Towards the end of the fourth season, the series undergoes a format change as the Turtles would be recruited by the Ninja Tribunal to use new mystic abilities to combat another version of the Shredder. Season five would be the last to use the original character designs and animation style with its plot concluding the series' main storyline.
The sixth season, subtitled "Fast Forward", would retool the series with a new art style and comedic tone. The season's plot focused on the Turtles being transported about 100 years into the future to the year 2105; where they meet and befriend Cody Jones, the great grandson of April and Casey. Fast Forward's main story would conclude in the seventh and final season, subtitled "Back to the Sewer", while sporting another redesign for the entire cast inspired by the designs from the 2007 TMNT film. After returning to the present day, the Turtles must battle a cybernetic version of the Shredder, with a running subplot centered on the wedding of April and Casey. The 2009 TV movie, Turtles Forever, serves as the finale to the 2003 series and centers around the Turtles encountering their 1987 animated counterparts, who have accidentally been transported to the 2003 Turtles' reality.

Characters

Main

The voice director for the series was Susan Blu and Roy Burdine, while the ADR voice director was Darren Dunstan.

Main

In May 2002, it was announced that 4Kids Entertainment would produce a new animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series for the FoxBox programming block to air on Saturday mornings. The series was renewed for a second season in the summer of 2003. The third season was renewed in May 2004. The fourth season was renewed in April 2005. The "Ninja Tribunal" was originally intended to be the fifth and final season of the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series, but the schedule was changed to try to increase interest in the series and "Fast Forward" became the fifth season, The "Ninja Tribunal" episodes were scheduled to be released on DVD sometime in early 2007, but 4Kids Entertainment later removed them from their release schedule, the season was promoted in commercials as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Lost Episodes.
Series development was headed by producer Lloyd Goldfine, who had known the Ninja Turtles since the original Mirage Studios comics and declared he "loved the charm of the cartoon", but much preferred the idea of turtles raised to be ninja assassins, and was interested in using said plot while also being family friendly. Once he heard 4Kids had an interest in the franchise, Goldfine suggested going straight to Mirage for guidance, and then he and other company representatives went to the company's headquarters in Northampton, Massachusetts. Turtles co-creator Peter Laird and Mirage CEO Gary Richardson approved their pitch, and Mirage remained very close during development, with Laird reading every outline and draft of the script, and approving most of the character designs.

Home video

The series has been released to home video.
Complete seasons of the show have not yet been released.

Broadcast history

The series originally aired in the US on Fox for its first six seasons from 2003 to 2009. It then aired on The CW for its seventh and final season from 2009 to 2010.
The show aired in the Republic of Ireland on RTE Two from 17 September 2003 to 2010.

Critical reception

The series was both highly acclaimed and commercially successful throughout its first five seasons. Many consider this to be the greatest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show ever made. Currently holding a 7.7/10 on IMDb and an 8.8/10 on TV.com. The praise went towards the storytelling, action, darker tone, humor, character development, the theme song, background musics, voice acting, faithfulness to the source material, animation and appeal to all ages.
4Kids was known for its controversial history of censoring anime, but the series was a most popular and critically acclaimed for trying to follow the dark and gritty tone of the original Mirage comics. However, due to 4Kids having to keep their ratings under PG, the last two seasons of series, Fast Forward and Back to the Sewer, was panned by critics and fans.
Several of the characters introduced in the series would later appear in subsequent publications of the TMNT franchise. Hun was introduced into the Mirage Comics with the issue Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 2 #56 in March 2009, and also appears as a recurring figure in the IDW comic series and in the 2012 animated series, as does Agent Bishop. Angel, Ch'rell, Darius Dun and the Street Phantoms would also be featured in the IDW comics, and the Triceraton Mozar as an antagonist during season 4 of the 2012 series.