What seems like only a few short years ago the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were everywhere, and although the wise-cracking heroes of Manhattan never truly went away (they’ve always hung around in various live action or animated, movies, comics, and TV shows), they’re now back in one of their most beloved incarnations; thanks to Lionsgate releasing a new line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles “Best Of” DVDs, featuring the best episodes from the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series.
If you can believe it, the pizza-loving heroes in a half-shell first graced the small screen with the original cartoon series way back in 1987 (but, for a time, were known as the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles; due to controversy over the use of the word ‘ninja’ at the time), and you can tell by watching the new DVDs that, at least by modern-day animation standards, the show is looking a bit dated.
That said, the stories themselves remain fairly applicable, and easy for a new generation to get behind, particularly as the titles state, these new releases are showcasing 3 of the best episodes revolving around each of the principal Turtle team (Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael); making for a total collection of 12 awesome episodes.
While varying slightly in quality, each of the episodes is enjoyable, easily accessible, and is not only much longer than remembered, but comes loaded with the nostalgic wow-factor that will have any ageing fan grinning from ear-to-ear while watching, and still contains characters that are as relevant, memorable, funny, and watchable today as they were nearly 30 years ago; meaning they’re perfectly primed to please and thoroughly entertain a whole new generation of potential Turtles fans; particularly as there’s a new live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie due to be released later this year.
A great gift for yourself, or the kids in your life, these new “Best Of” the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles DVDs, prove that while they may look a little dated, they still hold up well, are every bit as good as you remember, and reassure us that ‘When the evil Shredder attacks, these Turtle boys won’t give him no slack”; as they’ve lost none of their T-U-R-T-L-E Power!
Matt Wheeldon – @TheMattWheeldon.
