What Made The 2003 TMNT So GREAT | Series Retrospective (Part 1)

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I've always compared TMNT 2003 to teen titans. Both feel pretty similar. They balance comedy with deep story telling so well. Also this shredder and slade are both very menacing

Scottie ray as the shredder is the greatest decision ever. His laugh is as iconic as the character. And his theme STILL sends chills down my spine to this day as an adult too.

That scene where Leo, as hurt as he is, manages to knock the bookcase over onto Shredder to save Splinter, and then Splinter's reaction, one mixed with shock, horror, sympathy, and maybe even a little pride, is my favorite moment of the entire series, and actually one of my favorite scenes in any cartoon.

Ive always loved the connection that the same "chemicals/ooze" that made the turtles "mutants" is the same stuff that made daredevil blind

FINALLY. My favorite TMNT show is getting some recognition. 2 things I love about this version of TMNT. 1) The TMNT are not superheroes. They do the right thing but they don't actively seek out crimes to fight. 2) The good guys don't always win. It makes the series feel more "realistic", keeps us on the edge of our seats and makes the victories all the more rewarding.

Out of all the turtles, I love the relationship between Leo and Raph the most. They always have conflicting ideologies and they will argue to the point where they'd throw down. Though when Leo was on the brink of death it was Raph who broke down into tears out of fear of losing his brother. I truly believe that out of all the turtles, those two have the best bond.

One of Splinter's lines from "Return to New York" has always stuck as my "Badass Childhood Memory". When finishing off the Foot Mystics: "Fire melts Metal, Water quenches Fire, Earth swallows Water, Wind scatters Earth, And I shall quell the Wind!"

The 2003 show is what introduced me to the TMNT Franchise and it's just a incredible show. It's one of my favorite interpretations of the Turtles.

2003 TMNT will always be my favorite iteration of the Turtles. Even at 28 years old, I still find myself watching through the whole show at least once a year. It’s that good to me.

I also love how the theme changes every time something big happens like how after they beat the shredder the part that said “watch out for the shredder” was changed to the turtles saying “we beat the shredder” that always got me hype

It's also insane how clean the animation for the 2003 show was considering it was just a Saturday Morning cartoon.

For someone who grew up with the original cartoon, i can say, it hasn't aged that well. I tried watching it a few years ago, i just couldn't. The 2003 series, especially the first seasons were absolute masterpieces.

Sometimes, I feel like 4Kids Entertainment doesn't get as much credit where it's due. I mean most of the censorship and story editing sucked, but they did launch the careers of many talented people and introduced a large variety of shows to many parts of the world, such as Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh! and TMNT 2003.

TMNT 2003 season 1, as a series attempting to tell an ongoing story on an episodic basis, is almost perfectly paced and structured. It knows the right time to throw in a new twist. It knows the right time to take a break from the main story and build up intrigue for the A plot. And it knows the right time to go hog wild with action and character confrontations. Each emotional and narrative beat is delivered to a T, with the Shredder Strikes Back being an excellent example of a villain gaining the upper hand and Tales of Leo providing an excellent dramatic low point. Then, of course, Return to New York makes an exciting, action-packed climax, all the while making the Shredder more mysterious than ever with nothing but action set pieces (e.g. the presence of Foot Mystics, mutant Shredder clones, and of course that chilling ending shot). There are so many great character moments in this season, too. One of my favorite moments is during The Monster Hunter, where Leo is reveling in his failure to protect his family, and Raphael (who is characterized by his bluntness and quickness to action through anger) helps guide Leo out of his emotional rut by helping forge new katanas and jump back into action. Of course, we also have the Shredder, who is expertly voiced and characterized as the ultimate antagonistic force. A villain in a kids show who is heavily implied to have killed someone as early as the first episode. I get chills every time I see him walk out of that burning building in The Shredder Strikes Part 2. Season 1 is so close to perfect that the show never really reaches those heights again. Season 2 is a mixed bag, and Season 3 has a lot of great episodes but ultimately feels redundant because the Shredder plot was basically wrapped up in Return to New York (or more definitively, Secret Origins) but kept limping along anyway. At the very least, it should be interesting to see you cover those seasons. Speaking of which, I love the new format you've developed for this season. As much as I rewatch the DCAU videos, after a while the episode-by-episode approach eventually became 90% summary and 10% analysis. They became a shorter way of rewatching the season as opposed to content in their own right. This video strikes a good balance between summary and analysis and keeps the flow going. Unfortunately, there are a few casualties to the format. While I totally understand skipping over Garbageman, Fallen Angel, Lone Raph and Cub, and especially the Unconvincing Turtle Titan (an episode that is so wildly out of place compared to the rest of the series that it might as well be non-canon), the casualty is that you skipped over Nano. While a standalone, B Plot episode, the emotional components easily rival or exceed the best of BTAS or even JL.

One of Casey's best lines that I can still remember: "Give me a toaster, or give me death!"

The 2003 series is what got me into the TMNT fandom and it’s one of my favorite iteration of the TMNT. That version and the 2012 version are my absolute favorite versions of TMNT.

2003 is by far my favorite version of the show. I grew up on the 80's version, but 2003 does everything better imo.

Fun fact about Next Mutation: the scenes where Raph heads out on his bike aren't just one clip reused every episode. It was shot multiple times, and one of them, which made it into the show, includes a chunk of the bike falling off when he hits the curb.

man I love how insanely dark TMNT 2003 is compared to other 4kids shows. They censored riceballs and the concept of death, but will not hesitate showing Baxter Stockman losing limbs and body parts to the point of being just a brain in a jar