Who invented tmnt

The show flopped hard with critics and audiences, and was canceled after just one season. Not long after, Eastman surrendered his rights to the franchise to Laird, which marked the official divorce from his friend and professional partner. Laird continued to shepherd the franchise through new cartoons and new toys , until Viacom came knocking. But Laird and Eastman hardly, if ever, saw each other. The episode ends with Eastman and Laird once again drawing the Ninja Turtles like they used to.

Eric Francisco. Since its cancellation, the program has been considered apocryphal by the TMNT fanbase, and Laird and Eastman have disavowed all knowledge of the character Venus de Milo. Currently, all 26 episodes are available on DVD. It later moved to " The CW4Kids " block. The series was co-produced by Mirage Studios , [12] and Mirage owned one-third of the rights to the series.

Mirage's significant stake in creative control resulted in a cartoon that hews more closely to the original comics, creating a darker and edgier feel than the cartoon, but still remaining lighthearted enough to be considered appropriate for children.

This series lasted until , ending with a feature-length television movie titled Turtles Forever , which was produced in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of the TMNT franchise and featured the Turtles of the series teaming up with their counterparts from the series. Now days this series is available in some online streaming services, like iTunes, or Pluto TV through its internal channel Totally Turtles.

A follow up series where the Turtles return to the present. It featured the Turtles as sentai superheroes, who gained costumes and super powers with the use of " MutaStones ", while Shredder , Bebop and Rocksteady gained super-villain powers with the use of "Dark MutaStones".

The second episode was created to advertise the Metal Mutants toys in which the characters gain Saint Seiya -esque mystical metal armor that can transform into beasts. The seven Japanese MutaStones encased in a magic mirror that control the Metal Beasts are based on the sun, moon, and the Five Elements.

The first film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles , closely follows the storyline from the Mirage comic books , in addition to some of the more lighthearted elements of the first cartoon. This movie presents the origin story of Splinter and the Turtles , their initial encounters with April Judith Hoag and Casey Elias Koteas , and their first confrontation with Shredder and his Foot Clan. It remains one of the highest grossing independent films of all time. The original story was to include Rocksteady and Bebop at the insistence of the studio, but Laird and Eastman fought tooth and nail to prevent their inclusion, settling on Tokka and Rahzar Mark Ginther, actor, stuntman as a compromise.

But due to budget constraints, plus the fear he may be mistaken for the character Krang , [vague] the plot twist was abandoned. According to a press release, "the PG-rated movie will derive its tone from the original comic-book series and will be slightly grittier than the previous live-action pictures. The sequel was released on June 3, , with Bay returning to produce and Dave Green directing.

The game features a large list of animals, including pandas and sparrows, that are available as mutant player characters. In , Dark Horse Miniatures in Boise, Idaho produced an attendant set of lead figurines; unlike later incarnations the bandanas on the store's display set were painted all black before the multicolored versions were released to help younger readers distinguish between the four characters other than their weaponry.

Palladium allowed the license to lapse in , in part due to declining sales stemming from the "kiddification" of the animated and live-action incarnations to that point. However, Palladium's publisher, Kevin Siembieda, indicated in a potential willingness to revisit the license given the franchise's recent moves closer to its roots. Playmates continues to produce TMNT action figures based on the animated series.

And in September , NECA announced that they would produce figures based on character designs from the original Mirage comics. As of April there have been toys released of the four turtles with their weapons, a piece of an interhooking platform, a can of ooze, an unmutated turtle toy, and two alternate hands. Dark Horse Miniatures produced an attendant set of lead figurines. Numerous supplements were published expanding the TMNT universe through , up until Palladium elected to refuse to renew the license facing the market aftermath of the cartoon series.

As the video game series progressed, programmers began to incorporate unique signature moves for each Turtle, as well as game features such as "Versus mode" and "Time Attack mode. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters was released as a one-on-one fighting game similar to the Street Fighter game series.

Konami also acquired the license to adapt the animated series into a video game franchise, resulting in a new series of games with the same button mashing gameplay as the old TMNT "beat 'em ups.

To capitalize on the Turtles' popularity, a concert tour was held in , premiering at Radio City Music Hall on August A pay-per-view special highlighting the concert was shown, and a studio album was also released.

Since the tour was sponsored by Pizza Hut in real life, there are many references to their pizza. As part of a cross-marketing strategy, Pizza Hut restaurants gave away posters, audio cassettes of "Coming Out of Their Shells," and "Official Tour Guides" as premiums. The original show of the tour was released on video with a making of video also released.

In two more twenty-five minute videos were released featuring some of the same songs plus some others. Emerging from their Turtle Party Wagon , they would "ninja dance" across the stage while April performed the theme song to the show. After the main show was done they would pose for pictures and sign autographs. They also appeared during the Easter parade dancing to their single " Pizza Power ".

The Turtles' live shows and appearances ceased production in As the self-published creation of two amateurs, the wildly lucrative TMNT inspired thousands of fans to self-publish their own comics, usually in black and white. Several new publishers such as Eclipse , First , Comico , and Dark Horse Comics grew to prominence during the s independent comics boom.

The economic effects were even felt in the UK comics industry. As Eddie Campbell would later write, "suddenly, because of the Turtles, the game was open to everybody. As the TMNT were introduced into the mainstream , they were radically redesigned for a younger audience in the children's spino-ff universes beginning with the first cartoon. This development incensed the core group of fans who had faithfully collected the independently-published comic series from its inception.

They accused Eastman and Laird of selling out their indie roots in favor of corporate greed. In issue 19 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles , the creators published an editorial addressing these concerns.

It stated, in part: "We've allowed the wacky side to happen, and enjoy it very much. All the while, though, we've kept the originals very much ours — forty pages of what we enjoy and want to see in our books, whether it comes from our own hands or from those of the talented people we work with.

In the film Turtles Forever , the original Mirage Turtles refer to their descendents as "sell-outs," in reference to their colorful accessories the originals are conveyed in black and white. For many parents in the late s, the Ninja Turtles phenomenon represented the latest in a series of shrewd cartoon-toy marketing strategies, a trend that had proven very profitable with Masters of the Universe , Transformers , and a host of other "good vs. Parents often found themselves at odds with children who demanded scads of toys and accessories after being subjected to so-called "30 minute commercials" delivered via after-school television.

The lyrics were also changed, such as changing "Splinter taught them to be ninja teens" to "Splinter taught them to be fighting teens. The policies also had other effects, such as removing Michelangelo 's nunchakus which were at the time banned from appearing in even rated movies and generally toning down the usage of all the turtles' weapons.

After many seasons of never using his nunchaku, they eventually disappeared entirely, replaced by a turtle shell shaped grappling hook called the " Turtle Line ".

By the time of the TV series , these censorship policies had been abolished, and no changes have occurred in the content of the show. The name "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" remained unchanged for the show. The series itself is owned by Wolf Films, home entertainment rights reside with Lionsgate, and until recently, syndication rights belonged to former Nickelodeon corporate sibling CBS Television Distribution.

The second animated series — was a co-production between Mirage Studios and 4Kids Entertainment. Entertainment distributing the films in the United States, with 20th Century Fox distributed the second and third films in most other territories.

The first two films were copyrighted by the UK-based Northshore Investments. The third film was copyrighted by Clearwater Holdings. Entertainment in association with the Weinstein Company. Initially, Mirage allowed employees and freelancers to retain the rights to characters they created for the TMNT Universe but had never licensed for media and merchandise outside comic books. Eventually, due to the difficulty of keeping track of everyone's rights, Mirage made TMNT character creators sign retroactive work-for-hire contracts.

As the four Turtles were virtually identical in appearance, particularly as the book was to be published in black and white, Eastman and Laird differentiated the four through their choice of weapons: Leonardo would wield a pair of katana blades, Michelangelo used nunchucks, Donatello mastered the bo staff, and Raphael favored the knife-like sais.

And it was Master Splinter, the mutated rat, who took credit for naming the Turtles in the very first issue. Master Splinter, however, wasn't a master speller, as he dubbed his nunchuck-wielding student "Michaelangelo" — a misspelling that stuck with the character for years to come. All Rights Reserved. Skip to header Skip to main content Skip to footer Captured. The daily gossip: November 11, Daily gossip. Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell swap late-night shows, promote each other's movie.