Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Beginning - The Complete 1st
Season
(2001/Nickelodeon/Paramount DVD)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: C Episodes: B-
The
Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles have
gone well beyond what artist Kevin Eastman had originally envisioned;
spawning an innumerable amount of toys, comic books, video games,
films, and animated series. The newest animated series for Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles aired
on Nickelodeon starting in 2012 and proved that the world was ready
for more Turtles.
With both adult and children fans alike the series has garnered much
praise; now in its 4th
season, showing no signs of slowing down.
The
American 3D rendered CGI series takes audiences back to the Turtles
origins,
keeping much the same, but shaking things up a bit to keep things
fresh. This departure from the original comics and animated series
is a bit hard to swallow at first (especially for longtime fans), but
quickly finds its stride and pulls the audience in for more.
The
series starts with ninja (Ninjutsu) master Hamato Yoshi caring for 4
baby turtles when he encounters a member of the alien race known as
Kraang. During an abrupt altercation with Kraang, Hamato and the
turtles are exposed to an odd, unpredictable chemical known as
Mutagen; a chemical that transforms Hamato into a humanoid rat and
the turtles into anthropomorphic turtles. Seeing the dire and
dangerous situation he's in, Hamato retreats with the turtles into
the sewers of New York City. In the sewers Hamato (known now as
Splinter) raises the turtles as his sons and trains them in the ways
of Ninjutsu. Fast-forward to modern day, the turtles (Leonardo,
Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo) are now teenagers. The
Teenage... Mutant... Ninja...Turtles (yep!) venture out to the
surface for the first time, where they discover that the alien race
(again) known as Kraang are attempting to use their mutagen chemical
to takeover New York. During this encounter they meet teenager April
O'Neill when her and her father are abducted by Kraang. April is
freed, but her father remains imprisoned. Concurrently to these
events Hamato's (Splinter's) long time arch nemesis Oroku Saki
(Shredder) arrives in New York with his Foot Clan; planning to
eradicate Splinter and his sons.
Shredder
learns of the Kraang race and that hail from Dimension-X where they
are led by Kraang Prime. The races ultimate mission is to use the
mutagen to transform earth into an inhabitable planet for their race.
Shredder sees The Kraang as good alliance, as they team up to
destroy the turtles. Along the way we meet some familiar characters
like that of Baxter Stockman, Leatherhead, and Spike and new ones
like Dogpound and Fishface.
The
series is well done as it finely mixes the old with the new, not just
merely rehashing what we have already seen; instead delivering
something fresh and fun. The CGI leaves something to be desired, but
gets the job done.
The
technical features on this DVD set are nice, but this set is merely a
repackaging of the 3 previously released volumes. That is to say, if
you already own the 3 volumes that were already released; the same
discs are delivered here, nothing new. The picture is nice in it's
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 widescreen image that has bright
colors and solid enough blacks, but the CGI on DVD doesn't look the
best and would be much better served on Blu-ray. The sound is also
adequate in a lossy Dolby Digital that comes heavy from the front
without surround action to enhance the viewing experience.
The
set houses the first 26 episodes and some extras. Extras include:
-
Michael P. Dougherty II