#tmnt2003review

So here we go again, this time with TMNT 2003. They released Disney+ in Finland during the week and I’ve been watching some Disney movies for whole day, I think it’s a good thing to take a break and watch something else I enjoy – that being TMNT. I especially enjoy watching this version of TMNT because it feels so nostalgic being the show I grew up with. Don’t get me wrong I do love me some 2012 show as well, but there’s just something about this version 2012 didn’t get right – and not just what the later seasons did with my childhood hero, April. But we get to that when we get to that.

I’m not saying, 2003 show doesn’t have problems, it does, especially during later seasons, but for now let’s just enjoy both shows for what they are.

For the plot it’s fairly simple: April wakes up in the lair after events of the last episode, where she is introduced to the turtles and Splinter. After being in denial for a bit, she accepts this is probably the weirdest thing that has ever happened to her and we are told the origins of the turtles. 15 years ago, they were just normal tiny turtles who were exposed by mysterious ooze after ending up in the sewers. Splinter who was living in the sewers took pity on the turtles and decided to take them along – getting exposed by the ooze in the process. We all know the story from this point: Ooze changed them and the turtles got their names from famous renaissance artists. Splinter taught their ninjutsu but lefts out the bit how he came to know martial arts himself.

This story is followed by a news broadcast about bank robbery taking place earlier. Turtles recognize foot prints made by M.O.U.S.E. R’s which leads to April figuring out what her former boss, Stockman used the robots for – robbing banks. Turtles decide to pay Stockman a visit but doing so they need April’s help as she used to work there.

While Stockman appears very pleased with his robots, his boss is not as pleased. He reminds doctor Stockman to not fail him because if he does, there will be consequences. When the night falls April takes the turtles to Stockcronics via sewers, turtles help April to gain access to the main computer and April shuts the cameras as our heroes are on their way to Stockman. Thinking they are intruders Stockman plans of disposing them, but turtles don’t make that easy for him, as they manage to corner our doctor fairly easily. Stockman alerts his M.O.U.S.E. R’s and gets away as April is trying to shut the system down but has little luck in doing so. Instead she manages to overload their programming which causes M.O.U.S.E. R’s to explode. Turtles escape with April while Stockman runs into troubles of his own – with his boss, who isn’t too happy with him.

April having lost her job isn’t entirely sure what she’s going to do next but rest is assured: Turtles have gained a new ally for themselves. Doctor Stockman however isn’t quite as lucky…

What I liked about this episode:

+ Interaction between Raph and Mikey. I liked how their bond as brothers was shown – Raph teasing Mikey every now and then but when things get serious you can tell he really does care about his youngest brother. And way it was done was really sweet.

+ April and Donnie. In general, I quite enjoyed April’s character in this episode but if I had to pick what I really liked about this episode in general, it would be her interaction with Donatello. They have a reason to interact here and it came out naturally.

+ Action movie lines. Yep, 2012 Leo isn’t the only one guilty of them, his 2003 counterpart (as well as Raph) has his moment (in this episode) at least.

+ April getting to meet Splinter. I know this might not be such a big deal but since we didn’t get to see April meeting Splinter for the first time in 2012 show, it made me appreciate this scene a lot more than I thought possible. While their relationship in 2012 series is nothing but flat, this is in one way iconic scene and I wish 2012 show had included it.

+ Menacing presence that is the big bad. I don’t want to say too much about him, just in case someone reading this hasn’t seen the show, but Shredder in this show means business. While 2012 series had very ominous presence, this Shredder shows he isn’t all talk right when he’s on screen. If you don’t believe me, just look at Stockman next time he appears (and that is not the worst he’s going to get).

What I didn’t like about the episode:

I’m trying to find something I didn’t like, okay?

- As an episode this was pretty good one, not the best 2003 has to offer but not the worst either. Sure, they could’ve focused on action bit more – I felt like the action scenes came fast and were done almost as soon as there was some action involved.

- I also found M.O.U.S.E. R’s robbing banks as very generic plot point, I know what its purpose was, but it still felt bit bland to me. Then again this is a show from early 2000’s…

As for Back in my day…

I remember watching this episode from TV when it first aired, but I don’t have any memories about it, other than it aired on Sunday morning and that I made sure to see the whole thing.

The dubbing is… decent. It’s not as bad as the last episode, but it’s not as good as the original. It starts with April not really sounding like her voice actress (Elise Langenoja) is acting for the first lines she’s delivering, but after that it gets better. It’s not perfect but better than in the last episode. I should probably mention we have a lot of repeating voices such as Raine Heiskanen, who voices both Donatello and Shredder during the first season, Arto Nieminen who voices Baxter Stockman and Hun and Pauli Virta who voices Raphael and some minor characters in season 1 – like the bank manager in this episode.

Some do better job better when doing these “double voices” as I like to call them. Pauli Virta for example does a solid voice for Raph but as the bank manager, you can still hear it’s the same voice actor even if the voice itself is softer. Then we come to those that pull it off much better. One of them being Raine Heiskanen, who I just found out voiced both kind-hearted Donnie and ominous Shredder. I literally couldn’t tell they were voiced by a same person. When it comes to Shredder, he does have smoother voice, that can still sound threatening when the situation calls for it, so that’s a plus. Who however ended up surprising me was Arto Nieminen as Hun. Honestly, I thought they had different actors but no. They are voiced by the same person and it’s something you can’t necessarily pick out. I must say I quite like Hun’s Finnish voice, while not as deep as Greg Carey but for what it’s worth I think he is the best voice actor for Hun in the Finnish dub, as he really sounds the part. It’s too bad they replaced him after season one, I kind of feel other picks for the part didn’t sound as good as Hun as the first one did.

….Then again I seem to remember this one losing his shine on the character later on… :/

If I were to complain about couple of things I would for one tell you that the weakest part of when it comes to Finnish dub, it would be Ari Wirta as Mikey, as much as I love this version of Mikey and how he sounds, it felt at times like he was just reading his lines instead of actually acting – such as the scene where Stockman escapes the turtles. He didn’t really sound like someone doing an action scene, just a dude talking.

Another complaint would go for the translation. Some of the translation choices felt odd, but I think it mostly came down with lip syncing the lines. However, there’s one line I think translators didn’t really understand. It would be the one where turtles are cornered by M.O.U.S.E. R’s, Mikey and Raph have these lines:

Raph: This is it. It’s been fun guys. Mikey: Even me, Raph? Raph: Even you, Mikey. Especially you.

I really like that scene, because while Raph is impulsive hot head who loves to tease Mikey, this scene shows he really does love his youngest brother even if he doesn’t always show it.

Yet in the Finnish dub he merely says “Even you, Mikey. You were fun” and the way he says it, still sounds like Raph is teasing him. I think they didn’t really understand what Raph actually meant or were too lazy to translate it correctly. Maybe I’m reading too much into this. ._.

Anyway, this review took less time I thought, which is a good thing mainly because next time I’ll be reviewing one of my favorite episodes from TMNT 2012, so stay tuned for that!

But first have some screenshots.

April meeting Mikey.

..And she is not having this. She must be asleep right?

April meets Raph.

And here she’s meeting all of them. I really like this scene though!

....Especially because we get to see April meeting Splinter.

...This is her reaction.

“You have a way with ladies, sensei” - I swear Donnie has the best lines.

Raph waking up Mikey.

We are in for a story!

TCRI... where have I seen that logo before?

Splinter finding the turtles.

I’ve always thought the turtle Splinter is holding here is Mikey.

I said I liked character interactions in this episode? Did I mention I liked interactions between April and Raph?

April and turtles watching TV.

April taking charge. I really really love April here. She already seems like she’s part of the gang, not because she’s some damsel but because she knows what she’s doing. Not because she wants action but because it is the right thing to do.

Introducing Donnie.

Here’s Stockman arguing with someone.

April and Donnie working together. Did I mention I love these two in this version?

...What? I really like this screenshot of April. (You couldn’t tell she’s one of my absolute favorite characters?)

Turtles sneaking into Stockcronics.

Ready for action.

“What are you?”

Stockman being cornered by the turtles and April.

Raph roughing up Stockman.

April trying to help with the M.O.U.S.E.R situation.

Cornered by M.O.U.S.E.R’s.

Mikey holding M.O.U.S.E.R.

Stockman running into Hun.

More April and Donnie.

April officially becomes part of the gang!

Meanwhile Stockman is trying to explain himself out of the trouble.

..But his boss isn’t having it.

Stockman realizing he’s in big trouble. You might want to remember his face for the next time we’ll see him on screen.

Stockman’s boss witnessing the last image M.O.U.S.E.R’s were able to see.

So, I guess we are continuing with the reviews. This time we are here for the second episode of the 2003 series called A Better Mousetrap.

Plot for this episode is fairly simple, turtles are setting in for their new home and find through a TV interview taking place at Stocktronics that the M.O.U.S.E.R. robots that attacked their lair were invented and created by Baxter Stockman, who is considered to be best of the best in his field. While Raph wants to go up to settle things, Splinter forbids the turtles to go outside as their last visit was a disaster. Meanwhile in Stocktronics, Stockman’s assistant April notices several M.O.U.S.E.R robots being missing and thinks they should investigate the matter, Stockman brushes it off causing April to suspect something is going on. She manages to hear a suspicious conversation between her boss and supposed financial backer. With this April decides to investigate more and eventually finds a hidden elevator that takes her straight to the source where the M.O.U.S.E.R.S are being produces. April is convinced not all is right here as M.O.U.S.E.R’s were marketed for help with the city’s growing rodent problem, this seemed to be too much of an over kill even for that. So, April decides to investigate just what is going on but while snooping around she accidentally triggers the alarm and is caught by Stockman who then sets the M.O.U.S.E.R.S after her in attempt to silence his now former assistant leading April escaping to the sewers. Meanwhile Donnie has managed to get one of the M.O.U.S.E.R.S from last episode working and turtles try to follow it to its source while running into April and saving her before she ends up as a snack for M.O.U.S.E.R.S.

What I liked about this episode

+ Dialogue between the turtles especially lines between Donatello and Michelangelo.

+ How April was introduced in this series. She’s not just a damsel in distress in need of saving, she’s a character who gets into trouble but tries her best to make it out alive. Unlike her 2012 counterpart in her debut she actually feels like a character instead of some random girl who is someone’s love interest.

What I didn’t like about this episode

Like with the last episode there’s not really anything I disliked. I think this was well rounded episode, it didn’t feel too slow paced, it wasn’t too focused on the turtles and managed to introduce April as a character and as April in a way we knew who she was supposed to be but not relying same stunt as the 80’s show.

If I do have to mention something, I do think Baxter Stockman looks creepy in this episode. It’s not really a minus but something I never really noticed before.

Just look at that. If that doesn’t look creepy I don’t know what does.

And now Back in my day…

This was actually very first episode I ever saw of this series. Or at least the last three or so minutes of it. It aired when I was staying a night with a friend’s place – I used to do that quite a lot due to my mother’s growing drinking problem. I remember watching this with said friend and her little brother – who found Mikey’s last line: “So, can I keep her?” hilarious. Even though I hardly saw anything action oriented, I was determined to watch this series and see what it was all about.

Looking or more like hearing the Finnish dubbed version now, I must say I don’t really like it. The dubbing itself doesn’t sound good – at times it feels like they are just reading their lines instead of acting. The translation from English to Finnish – especially after seeing the original version feels tacky at times. And as for actors, while I really like voice acting of Samuel Harjanne (who voices Leo) usually, his dialogue sounds like he is just reading it from a paper or something as do the other actors. I think this was one of his first roles in voice acting and it shows.

Best voice acting comes from Arto Nieminen who voices Baxter Stockman. While not perfect, he at least sounds like he is trying. Next to him is Elise Langenoja who voices April for most of this series. She may be one of the most experienced voice actors at this point, but I don’t think she embodies April’s character all too well. Especially when it comes to April’s confident side.

Then again, maybe this will pass during the series, maybe lack of actual acting is just during the first few episodes – honestly, I don’t remember if it will get any better, I prefer to watch this show and any other show in English. I know the group that dubbed this series (PVP Voice) will only dub season 1 through 2, afterwards a group called Dubberman will take over the dubbing and from what I remember at least the turtles and Karai will get voices that resemble their original voices better.

I’m probably not going to do this comparison between the original version and Finnish dubbing for all the episodes as I do not have access to all the dubbed episodes. I have some DVD’s in my TMNT collection but not all of them and most certainly – as these are mostly come from second hand shops not all of them work well.

For now, I’ll be doing some comparisons for the next episode after that I don’t have DVD’s numbered 2-4 (episodes 4-12), I may find some from YouTube but last time I checked most the episodes have been deleted. I guess we’ll just have to see.

Anyway, next time I’ll be reviewing more of TMNT 2012, so stay tuned for that!

But for now, let’s enjoy some screen shots...

Some stuff from the old lair. Why I have the feeling that broken canister will be important later on...

Raph and Leo riding home.

Splinter doesn’t approve the M.O.U.S.E.R. even if it’s turned off.

Turtles finding out where that critter came from.

April working with Stockman.

...And she’s getting suspicious.

Mikey imitating Splinter.

Raph is ready for some action which includes his fists.

Stockman’s video call with someone very suspicious.

April eavesdropping the conversation.

And here’s Mikey snoring. Just because.

Wrestle between Leo and Raph is cut short by an escaping M.O.U.S.E.R.

April is ready to do some digging.

Turtles following the M.O.U.S.E.R.

Producing the M.O.U.S.E.R.S

Turtles still tracking the M.O.U.S.E.R.

April confronting Stockman.

April defending herself.

Um, where did that come from?

Turtles being cornered by M.O.U.S.E.R.S

..But not for long!

April in trouble.

..And being saved by the Turtles.

I know it’s been a while, but I finally got myself into watching some TMNT. I’m trying to do these short-ish review type of things as where the episodes go. At first, I thought of doing TMNT 2012 series - as was my original plan but then I thought why not to mix it a little and do reviews from 2003 series as well? It was the show I grew up with after all.

As much as I do love the 2003 series I got to admit as where the pilot episodes go, the first episode Things Change isn’t really anything special, it’s not as plot oriented as Rise of the turtles part 1 from the 2012 series. It’s just a basic episode.

I’m not going to write the whole plot synopsis here, you can find it from places like Turtlepedia or if you so choose watch it I think you can find it from YouTube. I’m just going to explain the plot briefly. So here it goes:

The first episode opens up with master Splinter holding a training session to our four heroes, which ends up with other three turtles sort of messing up while Leonardo completes the task perfectly. It causes some bad blood between Raph and Leo, however it is short lived since bunch of M.O.U.S.E.R.S (as we learn in the next episode), break into their lair and pretty much destroy it. Turtles are separated from master Splinter but it turns out he is alright and tells them to meet him in the other part of the sewers. But because this is TMNT, the turtles find themselves unable to go through with the plan due to collapsed wall and instead they must go above ground to find another way back. There they stumble into trouble like the Purple Dragons and eventually the Foot Clan. In the end they are reunited with Splinter who has found them a new home. The End.

Yeah, not necessarily the most exiting episode out there but I’d say it’s a solid start. We get to see the turtles and witness their different personalities and see them fighting against what I like to call very weak Purple Dragons and later Foot Clan.

Since I grew up with this show it’s nostalgic to me. This is what I call the true turtles as I’m not a big fan of 80′s version nor did I watch it a lot when I was a kid. Despite this series being produced by 4Kids - the company that is well known of sugar coating everything that had to deal with violence guns or even Japanese culture, this series is surprisingly dark. One example of this would be the ending of the episode where we see the leader of the Purple Dragons now kneeling before certain someone asking for another chance which is not granted, and he is then killed by that certain someone though off-screen.

What I liked about this episode:

+ Personalities of the turtles were well shown. All be it Raphael’s personality was - for now most distinguishable. But then again Raph’s impulsiveness is the main reason why the turtles get into trouble in this episode, so it works.

+ Relationships between the turtles were shown nicely, especially that little rivalry we saw between Raph and Leo as well as relationship between Mikey and Raph - Raph sometimes shows his “brotherly love” towards Mikey by slapping his head - out of those we get to see I would have to pick their relationship as my favorite in this episode.

+ First appearance of that certain someone was well done. He had this very threatening presence even though he had very little lines, once he spoke up you could just tell he meant business.

What I didn’t like about this episode

- Well if I need to pick out something that didn’t seem right with me was the scene where the turtles are separated from Splinter. I guess it’s meant to be this dramatic scene - or at least Leo thinks so because his reaction just reminds me of this one scene in Star Wars and it sort of takes away the drama and instead made me laugh so I don’t think it worked out well. I know Leo and Splinter are supposed to be close but somehow his reaction just seemed bit too dramatic for my taste, especially when we find out Splinter is fine during the next scene.

And some screen shots!

Just in case you are new to this series, expect to see lot of this.

Here’s Mikey being a goof.

Splinter vs. the M.O.U.S.E.R.S.

Foot Clan makes it’s first appearance.

Donnie working on escape plan.

Splinter leading his sons towards their new home.

Do I need to tell you who this is?

Say what you will but I really like how the Foot headquarters looks in this series.

Now that we are dealing with the series of my childhood, I want to do something special here. It could be called Back in my day or something. I never saw this episode air; I always thought the first episode Better Mousetrap which I watched with a friend when it aired was the first one. I only found out the truth in 2013 when I was re-watching this series a year or so after that I finally got to see the original dub for this show - mind you I’m from Finland and we had Finnish dub for this show. The Finnish dub was decent – though it cannot hold a candle to the original. But most of the characters in this episode were well cast. My favorite had to be Samuel Harjanne who voiced Leo. Sure, he wasn’t exactly Michael Sinterniklaas but he did good, while nowadays I side with the original all the way. While my least favorite was Pauli Virta who voiced Raph. As a child I was freaking terrified of his voice (as well as the character!) While Frank Frankson has quite deep voice for Raph, the one we got in the dub was too deep. He always sounded like he wanted to kill someone even if Raph wasn’t angry at the time. Later I discovered it was his bad guy voice which he used in shows like Winx Club where he voiced Lord Darkar.

I should probably add the Finnish dub was provided for us by PVP Voice, Pauli Virta (Raphael’s first voice actor) worked as its managing director. While they did good job in some of their dubbings (like the first season of Pokémon) I can’t say I’m fond of this dubbing, I prefer the later seasons dubbed by Dubberman to this. They had better voice cast that actually sounded similar to both original English cast while keeping similar sounding voices we were used to in the previous dubbing.