Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a comic book team that first appeared in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1
Four turtles mutated by toxic goo called mutagen and trained in the the art of ninjitsu by Master Splinter. The TMNT have been published by numerous companies, including Mirage, Archie, and Image. They have had 3 television series, an animated movie, and 3 live action movies with another due 2011
The TMNT as they are commonly known was once nothing more then a Black and White Comic Strip but soon their fame sky rocketed with Saturday morning cartoons, Comic books, and even a series of movies.
Origin
The story if the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles starts in Japan in the year 1964 with the pet rat of Hamato Yoshi. The rat would often watch his owner as he practiced Ninjitsu and would try and mimick him. Yoshi was the best warrior of the Foot Clan, his only rival was a man named Oroku Nagi with whom he competed in all things but none more fiercely than for the love of tha lady Tang Shen. Both tried to woo her but from the beginning she loved only Yoshi. One day Yoshi walked into Shen's home to find her being beaten by Nagi who demanded that she love him, enraged by this Yoshi fought and killed Nagi.
Back in Japan Nagi's younger brother Oroku Saki vowed vengeance against those responsible for the death of his brother. He enrolled in the Foot Clan and over the years became their deadliest warrior. The Foot decided to expand it's influence to the rest of the world and chose Saki to lead it's American branch. Using this opportunity for revenge Saki set up the Foot in New York and took on the persona of "Shredder". He tracked down Yoshi and Shen and killed both of them in cold blood.
Leaving only Yoshi's pet rat he scavenged the streets for food until one day he saw a road accident involving a truck carrying toxic waste. Out of the truck a canister came flying out which struck a bowl of four baby turtles which was being carried by a young boy. The canister and the four turtles fell into an open manhole. The rat followed them down onto the sewers and saw the four turtles covered on the ooze which was spilling out of the now broken
Knowing that the outside world not understand them Splinter began training them in the art of Ninjutsu that he had learned from his Master Yoshi. With an old renaissance art book that he found in a storm drain he gave them all names ; Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael.
Facing the Shredder
Raphael was chosen to deliver the message to Shredder. He infiltrated the Foot Clan's Head Quarters dispatching many of the ninja guards. Spying Oroku Saki inside a separate building doing business he threw one of his sais through the window. attached was a note which challenged Shredder to a dual to the death to restore the honor of Hamato Yoshi.
The turtles arrived on the roof top location specified on the note and waited for their foe. From afar Saki now in his Shredder guise watched and wondered who the four mysterious creatures were and how his murder of Yoshi could still come back to haunt him. Facing the turtles they suddenly were surrounded by Foot Ninja with which they did battle. The turtles managed to defeat the Foot with some injuries. It was then that the Shredder chose to face the turtles. The four turtles initially tried to battle the Shredder individually but the armored warrior was too strong. They decided to face him all together, not faring much better until Leonardo managed to plunge his
Further Adventures
Not long after the defeat of the Shredder, Master Splinter became troubled at a news report of the scientist Baxter Stockman and the invention he hoped would lead put an end of New York's rat problem, the Mousers. Splinter's ill feeling proved to be well deserved as in the Sewers the turtles rescued a young woman who was being attacked by the Mousers.
Taking the woman back to their lair, she introduced herself as April O'Neil and explained that she was Stockman's Lab Assistant until she discovered that the Mousers true purpose was to steal money from banks as well as extort money from the City. Disgusted by this she ran from him ending up in the Sewers but Stockman turned the Mousers on her which was when she was rescued by the turtles. The four decided to return with her to Stockman's lab intent on stopping his schemes. While being attacked by the Mousers Donatello and April managed to shut down the Mousers.
The turtles escorted April out of the Sewers were she gave them her phone number telling them to call if they ever needed her help. The turtles returned home to find it in ruins and Master Splinter was no where to be found. Knowing that soon the Police and repair crews would be there to investigate and fix the damage done by the Mousers the turtles returned to the surface and used a phone box to call April who arranged to meet them.
April met them in her van and told them they could stay with her for the time being. They soon ran into trouble as April's van matched the description of another van involved in an armed robbery twenty minutes prior. Knowing that they couldn't be stopped by the police for fear of being discovered by the authorities they led the police car on a chase around the city until finally leading them to the real robbers.
After moving in with April, Raphael found it particularly hard without their master. A sparring session with Michelangelo gets out of hand Raphael grabs a monkey wrench and lunges at brother. The rest of his brothers managed to stop the angry turtle. Raphael ran out of the building disgusted by the thought that he could have killed his best friend and lamenting that he can't keep his anger under control.
Turtles in Space
While searching for their missing Master the turtles come across a building with the logo T.C.R.I., the same acronym that was printed on the canister of ooze that mutated them. Wanting to investigate the full truth of their origins the turtles infiltrate the building but they are baffled when every floor they search looks the same. They find a key card and use it to gain access to a locked room but are shocked to find a tube filled with liquid and their Master Splinter floating in the center.
The group find themselves back at the TCRI building on Earth. After a short firefight the Triceratons are teleported back to their homeworld leaving the turtles and the mysterious TCRI aliens. A tense moment is broken by the arrival of Master Splinter who explains that while the turtles were confronting Stockman the lair was attacked by Mousers. Retreating into the sewer tunnels he was injured and lapsed into unconsciousnes when he was found by a TCRI workman who brought him to the building to heal him. The aliens who identified themselves as the Utroms explained that twenty years prior their space ship crash landed on Earth. The craft being beyond repair they decided to blend in with humans by constructing exosuits, seeking employment and slowly gaining enough money buy a building turn into the Techno Cosmic Research Institute were they built a transmat so they could return home. A byproduct of their expiments with the transmats is the Ooze, thirteen years ago a road accident while on their way to a disposal site led to them losing a cannister down the sewers which led to the turtles and Splinter becoming mutated. At that moment the Utroms explain that the energy flash of transmat has put the TCRI building under human scrutiny and at that moment the National Guard are trying force their way in. The Utroms activate a self destructand program the Transmat to take that back to their homeworld, offering Honycutt a place with them which he instantly accepts the group teleport out with the building imploding soon after. The turtles themselves are later teleported back to Earth into April O'Neil's bathroom.
What Goes Around...Comes Around
The Foot Clan come bursting into April O'Neil's apartment. An intense battle breaks out which follows the turtles, April and Splinter trying to escape the building via the antique store bollow. As the enter the group switch on the lights of the store they are met by Foot Soldiers and the Shredder. A tense moment is interrupted by the arrival of Raphael's friend Casey Jones who has come to aid the turtles. A fire breaks out which attacts the police. Hearing the sirens the Shredder orders the Foot to scatter but vows that the "war is far from over". Realizing they need a place to go April is next seen riding in Casey's car, a U-Haul trailer attached with an injured Leonardo, the rest of the turtles and Splinter inside as it heads to Northampton.
Exile in Northampton
In Northampton the group stays in a dilapidated farm house which used to belong to Casey's grandmother. April finds life on the farm difficult, depressed and suffering from nightmares she keeps a journal which she writes down her observations on how each of her new family are coping with their first defeat.
Leonardo has healed physicaly but his confidence in himself has shattered. Everyday he goes into the woods hunt the local wildlife. We follow him as he hasa skirmish with a large buck. The turtle is knocked down by the deer and he sits dejectedly in the snow, looking utterly defeated.
Donatello is obsessively working on the many repairs to the farmhouse. He fixes up a windmill and water wheel to provide electricity and hooks up a wooden stove for heat. His biggest project however is getting the hot water heater working. A brief moment of happyness ensues foe the whole group when he finaly manages to get it working. April is suprised when she observes him with a typewriter and wonders what he could be writing about.
Michelangelo worries April the most. Where once he would laugh and joke about anything he hardly laughs anymore with the exception of some half hearted goofing with Casey and Raph. He spends the majority of time alone in the barn taking out his frustration on a punching bag. We see him lashing out at aggresively punching through the wall of the barn.
Raphael's behavior scares April. Observing that his behavior is unbalanced and unpredictable. He is the first person to get up in the morning and the last to go to sleep. During the day he spends most of his time with Casey fixing up an old truck while playfuly insulting each other. He spends most of the night alone on the roof of the barn keeping watch.
One day while walking on the lake the ice cracks and April falls into freezing water below. Leonardo is returning to farm after hunting in the woods and sees April's fall. Leo uses his katana and cloak to make a lifeline and pulls April out of the cold depths, and then carries her home. While the turtles and Casey are watchig over the recovering April Splinter tells them that their spirits have drifted for too long and puts the team back to work, training together again
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A month after her fall into the ice April writes a more hopeful journal entry stating that "Life is good... and life goes on." As the turtles and Splinter sit by a campfire the rat congratulates his sons on their progress and tries to relieve their concerns about April stating that she gained more by friendship than she has lost and thinks that April realizes that. The next day the turtles wake up a very happy April with breakfast in bed.
The "5th" Turtle
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In many incarnations of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles there has at one point or another been a fifth turtle. These include Slash and the female turtle Venus de Milo. For that matter non-turtles such as Ninjara and Mona Lisa have also been considered part of the team. These "5th" turtles generally only appeared in the Archie Comic or in the cartoon and live action series.
| Team Name: | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles |
| Publisher: | Mirage |
| 1st Appearance: | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 |
| Appears in: | 318 issues |
| Disbanded in: |
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TMNT
The Turtles are Back in CGI
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III
The Turtles Travel Through Time
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
The second live action Ninja Turtles movie
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The Turtles made their big screen debut with this film.
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