When the 1987 TMNT Series Died

The 1987 TMNT cartoon series was cancelled over 20 years ago, which lasted 10 seasons with a total of 193 episodes, and I dove back into them to find out where things went wrong that led to the show's death. And [SPOILER ALERT!] I found there is more than one episode that could be argued as the day when the series took a nose dive. So I'll offer up two possible episodes that may seem like the most popular choices, until landing on the episode when I believe the 1987 TMNT series died. Enjoy!

Time Stamps:
00:00 - Series Backstory
00:45 - S2E1 "Return of the Shredder"
02:27 - S8E1 "Get Shredder"
03:40 - When the Series Really Died

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Fred Wolf Films

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[FunFactFilms]

What other TV shows or movies would you like to see for a "When...died" episode?

[kuglefang]

I'm a 33 Year old filipino man and I remember this series being primarily the reason I was able to speak and understand English when I was around 3-5 years old

[kenshinhimura]

The first Turtles movie is a masterpiece.

[Qaosbringer]

The Season 1 of TMNT was really breathtaking. OK, there is still many "Safety for Kids" type of changes like "blades don't cut and guns shoot laser" but the atmosphere and the artstyle was really amazing. I wish they did continue that style. I believe 1990 movie combined TMNT comics and the first season perfectly. That's why that movie has a special place in my heart.

[fernansanchez]

"Michelangelo never mentioned pizza once throughout the eighth season"

You monsters!!

[ledflaplin]

The series died for me when the 3rd movie came around. I also lost somewhat interest when they gave Michelangelo a grappling hook instead of his Nunchucks. So lame.

[salvatronprime]

It's a kid's show, the appeal was never about animation quality or even story quality. The appeal was all in the characters and their voices and personalities. When the characters changed, the show was dead.

[volbound]

When Shredder and Krang went away, that killed the series. They were the core villains. To be fair to the writers, they had done about all they could with those villains. Less Episodes and higher quality would have been addressed a lot of issues but the series was just running out of ideas and probably needed to die anyways.

[evangelus]

I remember when I stopped watching. I got tires of the villains never really being a threat. Left to their own devices, the way the villains were so neutered, they would probably fail on their own

[MrBlockice]

Hey I was born in 1980, The BEST times ever!! TMNT will NEVER die in my heart for sure!!

[doubleitp]

RIP Uncle Phil (Also voice of Shredder)

[AllieRX]

4:47-4:58 To be fair, this was the case with just about every cartoon in the 80s and 90s. Transformers, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs are some examples that went through this issue as well.

[simplyapleb]

I have fond memories of the TMNT cartoon series in my youth, perhaps, not realizing at the time how badly done actually was. Though went the 1990 movie debuted, it radically altered my perception of how an action movie, and the franchise itself, should be

[RawPower]

Turtlemania didn't fall off until about 1992/3, so it's weird that you invoked an episode from 1989 as the turning point. In retrospect, TMNT suffered from overexposure, wildly fluctuating quality since season 1, and being phased out by new shows like Power Rangers and Batman: The Animated Series. The third TMNT movie being as bad as it was didn't help either.

[Jaytona]

This Is Still one of the best cartoons series of all time.

[imperfectxennial]

Kind of like the movies, the first one was dark and closer to the source material.

[mr.voidout]

That's insane... going back to this as a discerning adult and I see now why some episodes just seemed... cooler than others.

[gibbs]

I was born in 1984 and the original TMNT cartoon series has NEVER DIED for me! In my book it's STILL the best!

[tsjoencinema]

I remember watching the first season of TMNT and loved it. When I watched season 2, it didn't even feel like the same TMNT. The action was just better in the first season and tone was darker, something I preferred.

[Gsmooth]

It's funny how TMNT (1987 series) tried to be more edgy than Batman: The Animated Series with the Red Sky seasons but didn't quite hit the intended mark. But when Batman: TAS was rebranded into "The New Batman Adventures", It was far too edgy, and I liked every minute of it and it had a red sky all the time too.

Don't get me wrong, I liked the Red Sky seasons of TMNT, but TNBA did it right.