THE INTRO
I'm going to admit this...I FREAKING LOVE THE INTRO! The songs catchy and kicks ass; we see our heroes fight, dance and eat pizza; we meet one of the hottest animated chicks of all time April O' Neil; the villain Shredder looks awesome; we see a little bit of their origins (Which makes no sense to the viewer watching this for the first time and not knowing anything about their back story; but I'm sure the show will tell us how they came to be) and we get really awesome animation! Oh my god, did I miss out as a kid! However, this is only the intro and for all I know, the show can just be pure crap. Remember how kickass the "Power Rangers" looked, while the show itself was campy garbage. Yeah, wasn't a "Power Rangers" fan, but I digress. Anyway, great intro, now on with the review of the pilot episode.
There's actually two stories in this episode. One is their origins and the other one takes place in the present. Let's start with...
THE ORIGINS
The back story revolves around a man named Hamato Yoshi who was a ninja master, but was later banished due to a prank being pulled on him by his rival Oroku Saki. Instead of well looking for a job or heck live in an apartment or some place cheap, he decides to live in the sewers in New York City with the rats. One day, a kid accidentally knocks his Pet Turtles into the sewer and Hamato decides to raise them. Meanwhile in the land where Hamato was banished, his rival took control of the "Foot Clan" and now runs it as a criminal empire. Back in the sewers of New York City, the turtles and Hamato touch radioactive toxic goo, which turns the Turtles into life size turtles with human brains, and turns Mamato into a life size Rat which now he calls himself Splinter. Where did that goo come from, I don't know, like most kids watching something like this they just go with it, as for me as a first time viewer so am I. Splinter trained the turtles to become Ninjas and each of them has their own ability and are named after Renaissance painters and each wear a color coded mask, so audiences can make out who they are. Their names are Dontalleo (Purple Mask), Rapheal (Red Mask), Leonardo (Blue Mask) and Michelangelo (Orange Mask). The origins of these characters while having plot holes, is still a well written back story that actually makes this odd concept make sense as well as having you buy into the surrealness and making you over look those plot holes I mentioned. Now with the origins done, let's look at the primary story of the pilot episode.
TURTLE TRACKS
After when News reporter April O'Neil finds out that the thieves causing chaos in New York City are ninjas, a bunch of punks hired by The Shredder try to kill her. April escapes into the sewers and is saved by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. As the turtles and April try to figure out who sent the punks, April gets kidnapped and the turtles have to save her from an army of robotic ninjas. The turtles, while finding them boring, bland and obnoxious as a kid, as an adult, I actually grew an immediate attachment to them. Granted, they do look like they have the same personality, but I still find them fun, enjoyable, kickass and who knows maybe their personalities will change as the show progresses. Splinter, while not showing or feeling much pity for him, he's still cool, wise and humble. April O' Neil the reporter, despite being a typical HOT damsel in distress, she's still likable, a lot of fun and I admire how much courage and guts she has to get a news report. The villain Shredder voiced by James Avery who sadly passed away recently, may not do much in this episode, but Avery at least makes him sound threatening and that cheesy costume on Shredder actually does look respectable on him. Oh, and if you're wondering what Shredders back story is...well...it's obvious and predictable. As for the animation, while looking NOTHING AS AWESOME AS THE INTRO, is still decent, fun, and does look kickass for the fight scenes. Ok I'll admitt, some the designs for some of the humans do look creepy and awkward, but they don't show up for the majority of this episode.
Overall, looking at this odd and strange concept for the first time, I actually enjoyed it and had a lot of fun with it. The heroes are fun; the villain while not doing much looks like he's going to do awesome things in the future; April O'Neil is a character I loved from the minute I first met her; the animation's nice; the fights are kickass; and the theme song rocks. Perhaps maybe this is a part of my childhood that I missed out on, but remember this is ONLY the first episode.
RATING 5/5
R.I.P. JAMES AVERY
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