Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Original Series - Volume Two
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Actor: Barry Gordon, Cam Clarke, Renae Jacobs, Rob Paulsen, Townsend ColemanBrand: Lions Gate
Writer: Jeffrey Scott
Writer: Joe DiStefano
Writer: Kenny Hotz
Writer: Kevin Eastman
Writer: Peter Laird
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 30 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-04-26
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Lions Gate
DVD Reviews of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Original Series - Volume Two
DVD Review: The Eye of Sarnath Saga alone is worth the price
Summary: 4 Stars
Well here it is nostalgianatics: the complete 13-episode second season of the Fred Wolf Films produced TMNT animated series on DVD. This season is marked by a notable downgrade in both stories, art and in voice-acting, though the animation remains much the same. Unlike the previous season, which had a wonderful five-part storyline where each part was a complete story unto itself and yet all were integral to the evolution of the saga (as any good serial should be), this season is very episodic, featuring one isolated wacky adventure after another (much like the comic book was becoming at the time). The one exception is the "Eye of Sarnath" four-part tale.
The thin evolving story of the season's cycle simply concerns the Shredder trying to convince Krang to bring the Technodrome back to Earth to destroy Hamato and co. Instead he gets stuck with whatever crumbs (alien eggs, Bebop and Rocksteady) Krang will throw him and uses his own cunning and resoursefulness to fill in the gaps. Several episodes are appearing for the first time on video (in the US anyway).
The four-part storyline is something of an homage to classic Science Fiction themes: shrinking people (in this case mutant turtles), nature coming to violent life, artificial intelligence adopting Social Darwinism as its credo, and the finale is of the classic I-think-it-therefore-it-is genre (which always has the tendency to be like Aladdin in some ways). This yarn is clearly the standout of the disc as it is well-paced, peppered with the right jokes at the right time and the result is not too far below the first season in quality. The gimmick that ties them all together allowing for a multi-part story exploiting every Sci-Fi cliche is the basic scavenger hunt. This results in some very conscious humor poking fun at this story-telling structure.
An alien crashes to Earth interrupting a TMNT training session and tells them to find the three pieces to the Eye of Sarnath before they fall into the wrong hands. Conviently for story telling's sake, the owner of said "wrong hands" happens to be in the bushes eavesdropping and was apparantly observing the boys in green all the while. That's the true weakness of these supervillians, their ego is way too big to allow them to destroy the heroes in a simple efficient manner. They need to put on some huge fireworks display and trumpet their arrival and supposed imminent victory to all or thier egocentricity cannot be satisfied. Apparantly he is not a subscriber to the lesson of the French-Indian War either.
Of course that is the fun of these characters (carictures?) and another example of the show's dissent into utter silliness and eventual self-parody that really picks up with season three and grows with each successive season thereafter (until the make over). The humor here is goofy, sometimes absurd though not irreverant like the next season. The action is more playful yet still more creatively storyboarded than the more choppy sequencing and less imaginative perspectives that await in season three. Inconsistency in the art is more prevalent this time and the characters are less detailed and defined than in season one.
The first episode on the disc finds Shredder returning to Earth and training a band of ill-costumed turtle crooks to frame the TMNT. It is easily the weakest episode on the volume suffering from an inane plot, lame and obvious humor and an irritating exploitation of stereotype bit characters that usually works in the show's favor. This episode is the quintessence of the post-pilot seasons' qualitative decline.
The Warrior Frogs of "Invasion of the Punk Rock Frogs" (who have nothing to do with the music, attitude or fashion sense or lack-there-of of the culture) are the Shredder's antithesis to the TMNT. They are somthing of ironic character composties being hapless innocents who are manipulated and duped by the Shredder and yet named after men who were history's quintessential villainous masterminds.
"Splinter No More" is my favorite single episode on here. It answers the big "what if...?" not answered in the first season: what if the TMNT had been successful in acquiring the cure for Splinter? We do the story no justice by dwelling on the large plot hole which begs the question: if they had the remainder of the original mutagen all along, why did Donatello not do this before? Well, maybe he just hadn't though of it yet? Or maybe the writers just wanted to revert him to human-state earlier in the episode so they could dedicate the story to the ethics of human conduct instead of hunting for the cure for 22 minutes like in "Shredder & Splintered"? Anyhow, I find it notable for displaying Splinter as genuinely sad in the beginning, indeed despondent. It is one of the few times in this entire series (maybe the only time?) that real heart-felt emotion seems to come through the voice-acting and even the art that accompanies those short scenes at the latter part of the introduction (the beginning of which is one of the more hilarious opening bits they have done). Kudos to Peter Renaday and the artists at MWS! The episode exercises the "be careful what you wish for..." and "people always fear what they do not understand" dictums quite poetically (Splinter even speaks the latter for anyone who is too dull to get the point.) More subtle is the implication that when something about you changes (personality traits, social status, whatever) people, often loved ones, will not accept you any longer, sometimes out of fear that they themselves are somehow being rejected. This anxiety is expressed by the TMNT, Raphael in particular, after seeing Splinter's miraculous spiritual change, which coresponded with his physical change, and his jubulaint departure topside. There is a nice little parallel to that point in the subway scene when a mind control device of Krang's causes the green team to ditch brotherhood for every-turtle-for-himself antagonism on the spot.
The Neutrinos return in "Teenagers From Dimension X" and once again violate the scientific principle of their namesake. Michaelangelo and Kala gush over one another throughout and although Mike saddens again when she leaves, he of course perks up when Raphael reminds him that he will always have pizza *sigh*.
"New York's Shiniest" features a mock Robocop-esque character and has a climax inspired by the film Westworld. "Catwoman From Channel Six" finds April's molecules accidentally swapped with a cat ala The Fly. So the TMNT, just like Helene Delambre, search frantically for a stray cat with April's personality.
In "Enter: The Fly" (another, more obvious though less ingeniuos, nod to the classic story) Baxter Stockman is punished by Krang for his incompetance by means of disintegration. A fly buzzes into the chamber after him and causes them to transmutate rather than simply be disintegrated along with him for reasons Krang (or the screenwriters) did not bother to explain.
The finale "Return of the Technodrome" finds the Technodrome Earthbound and gives fans the big battle Splinter has forewarned about all season. It is action packed but not as clever or funny as other episodes on this volume.
Again there are no extras, no menu music or animation. The episodes are divided into scenes this time which is nice (last time each show was one long title). Although the artwork is an improvement in tone, the bland coloring and dull background are just as lame as the sugar-coated tone of the previous volume is irritating. It is more representative of the cartoons themselves however (especially the TMNT's countenence). Hopefully we get some extras next time.
- No extras, laskluster menus and artwork.
+ All 13 episodes of season two on one disc for a low price. Good transfer.
Description of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Original Series - Volume Two
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