I caught a review of the last 45 minutes of TMNT 2 on Shamoozal today (a truly horrible movie, I couldn’t agree more), and it got me thinking about the whole TMNT thing way back in the day. There were some good times.
First of all, as for Secret of the Ooze, I remember watching in the theater, and being sorely disappointed. It hasn’t been until recently (thanks to Netflix) that 95% of the movies I’ve seen are total crap, so back then there was a really good chance that most whatever I watched I would at least watch again. This one didn’t make the cut, which was always a mix between disappointment and confusion.
Let’s see, it came out in 1991 so I was 15 at the time. I think I liked the Turtles for a long time, more so than most of my other things — I don’t really remember now, it’s all a bit fuzzy. I do know that I had almost all the action figures though … in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if I did have all of them. I know I made at least two home-made movies with our sleek VHS camcorder with the action figures. I have the original VHS tape here with me, guarding it closely from ever leaking onto YouTube.
I also remember having a large poster of Donatello I think it was (although Raphael was always my favorite), along with the soundtrack to the first movie. Turtle Power was a cool song, and I still kinda enjoy listening to it. I’d never buy the soundtrack again. I do know that TMNT was one of the very first DVDs ever released, that New Line (Warner) put it out, and that I had it for a long time. You can find it for $4 at any Wal-Mart now.
As far as the movie goes, I remember it sucking hardcore. So much that I never bothered watching TMNT III, where they go back in time. It might be in my Netflix queue now … maybe. The whole thing with Vanilla Ice was just terribly embarassing. The way that Shredder never did anything was annoying (of course, even in the cartoons, the only time anyone would ever fight was against the robots), and how he died at the end was just really pathetic.
The first movie kicked butt, though. I haven’t seen that one in a long time. I’d buy it again, but I’m usually really picky about re-purchasing titles that I’ve had in my collection before and either sold or ditched (I’m on my third take of collecting DVDs again, and this time the “rules” for buying something are a lot more strict as to what I’ll allow). I’ll have to watch it again just for old times sake.
I really liked the latest one though, the animated TMNT. I thought that one kicked butt, and if the price ever comes down, I’ll pick up a copy.
Along with my other TV shows on DVD, I already have a lot of the season shows of the original cartoon on DVD. I know there’s another production of it that’s airing on TV right now, but I haven’t seen it and don’t really plan on checking it out. Generally speaking, it takes me a very long time to get into something that everyone’s known about for years (for example, I just barely started watching Smallville, now that six seasons have gone by). Mostly, though, I just get a lot pickier as time goes by. There are very few new cartoons at all that I like.
The more I think about it, TMNT was one of those that really stood out from the rest of ones that I really got into. Looking back now, I’m not sure why at all. I’d probably have a hard time sitting through watching the cartoons, and I don’t like the approach of the formulaic personality stereotypes in the story, and I really sucked at the arcade game, but I guess it was fun. Kinda weird.