I was born 30 years ago. I would have been way way way too young to remember even a slither of Turtlemania. Now, 30 years later, as I research and understand the appeal of the Ninja Turtles for about a year now, I've decided to talk about it from the outside looking in since we have a new movie coming out and also the classic series had a bit of a resurgence.
As I said, I was born near the bitter bitter end of Turtlemania. My mania would have been Barney the Dinosaur at the time, and the Y7 crowd was starting to lean towards Mighty Morphan Power Rangers. That didn't mean Turtles weren't popular anymore; it just meant that pop culture was changing, and Turtles, for the time being, was no longer top dog. It would return for a while with a new series in 2003 that would last through the decade, and Paramount took good care of them under the Nickelodeon brand for the next decade at least in terms of brand recognition.
That said, my introduction to the Turtles could not have been better. I mean it could, but certainly better than me finding out about it years later like with most old franchises. If anyone remembers this fast food restaurant, our local Rax had a dining area with 2 arcade games. One was Trog which was claymation looking dinosaurs. The other....the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game.
Rax was no arcade place, nor was it like a Chuck E Cheese or a Roller Skating Rink. Therefore, in a place like Rax, if an arcade machine made noise, and with very little games to chose from, it was easy to tell where it came from, and the demo reels for TMNT when not being in action always made noise. Over and over you heard "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles......Heroes in a Half Shell; Turtle Power" hence me familiar with the classic theme song, and also who they were. Though the words that stood out to me and most other general public people were Ninja Turtles. They were ninjas, and they were turtles. It was a typical licensed Konami fighting arcade game like the Simpsons and Sunset Riders, so of course I enjoyed watching demo reels and other kids playing the game.
As such, I associated Ninja Turtles with the arcade game for a little while. Years later in 5th grade Turtles snuck back in with my teachers. My science teacher would always put a Ninja Turtle stamp on good grades and my history teacher briefly talked about how each turtle was named after a Renascence artist. Sure I've heard the names in TV commercials, but it was an educational lesson as to how the Turtles became the Turtles. What sparked my interest briefly (VERY briefly) was the fact that my teachers talked about them as if they were old hat, and me interested in old stuff especially cartoons made me think "hmmmm...." and had my curiosity burning. Unfortunately the original TMNT had been off the air since the 90's, and when I saw the 2003 series, I was disappointed. I guess I was more into funny animals, and while the original had funny animals, the animals here were more action packed, which lost my interest. Years later I come to realize that fans actually like this series.
My journey in the live action Turtle world was very brief as a child. I remember only once seeing Ninja Turtles the Next Mutation when it aired, but it didn't last. They added a female Turtle.....that I remembered. Fast forward to high school and we watched the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie from 1990 in World History for a little break. Why in World History? Because.....Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello; all of which were artists of World History named for the famed Turtles. Watching them as Jim Henson creations were a treat; watching them fight and say words like "damn" was even better. My favorite part was when they were watching an old Aesop and Son from Bullwinkle with the Tortoise and the Hare where they were rooting for the Tortoise and saying things like "Ninja kick the damn rabbit". But even then our teacher recollects how he used to always set up his son's Ninja Turtle playsets when he was a kid, so there really was something there about Turtles in the past.
By and by my interest on the Turtles waned and almost rightfully so; there was an instance of me watching a little bit of the new Nickelodeon series from 2012 because Jesse Ventura guest voices a villain. Otherwise, I hadn't thought much about them. At one point I was even asked what was the purple one's name and I was like "uhh....I dunno...." "What da ya mean you don't know; you're supposed to be like this cartoon expert." Yeah I will admit that was one of my weaker points, but that was because it wasn't my thing.
Flash forward to 2021 and Nickelodeon All Star Brawl; this is where some interest came in as the Turtles in the game went back to their original designs from the 1987 cartoon. There was a strange sense of nostalgia from looking at them. Then came a Youtube video about the history of Turtlemania which I said, "ok....I'll take a look; maybe I'll be educated on something." Boy did I learn a lot. The Turtles were THE thing in the late 80's/early 90's. By comparison, how Pokemon was in the lat 1990's. Kids having Ninja Turtle birthday parties, kids wanting the latest Ninja Turtles toys, parents concerned over the violence because....duh.....it's something new that mainstream media doesn't like, Ninja Turtles having a live on stage concert tour, Ninja Turtles at Disney World, video games, movies, etc.
So now, as an outsider looking in, I must say this so called Turtlemania is unbelievable. I'm a fan of past kids pop culture, and this one was interesting. It really feels like Jingle All the Way to best describe it. Especially when watching the live tour that happened in the early 90's. You can hear all the kids booing at Shredder like their lives depended on it (and to them....it did, or at least it felt like it; though they weren't in any real danger being just a show, but they don't know that).
Regardless of what you think of Ninja Turtles, they are here to stay, and I think that's ok. These anthropomorphic super hero turtles are both fun and entertaining. Not everything they did was great, but their brand seems to have not been tarnished too much yet (the worst stuff has been long forgotten). While I won't declare myself a fan, I think I've been well educated on a subject that has been weak for me. Let's see......Leonardo is Blue, Raphael is Red, Donatello is Purple, and Michelangelo is Orange. HAH! And I did that in my head. Looks like I fixed my Ninja Turtle weakness.
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