Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
 
In the late 80s/early 90s a new craze hit the planet. Four green dudes screamed 'Cowabunga' and landed in hearts of most kids (mainly boys) who wanted not just to be a ninja… but also a turtle. Yes, you heard me turtle. I have to admit, I was one of those kids. And now twenty years on, I still want to be a turtle.
 
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the story of four turtles who are mutated so they can walk and talk, and aided by their Sensei Master Splinter (who has been transformed into a Rat mutant) they are trained in the way of the ninja. Together, aided by the hot sidekick April O'Neil, they are trying to stop the mass crime spree that is happening in New York. This crime is being led by Shredder, a metal-masked old foe of Splinter (when he was still a human) and is aided by Krang, a talking brain and not quite so aided by Bebop and Rocksteady (two idiotic thugs who have also been changed into a warthog and rhino mutant).
 
The cartoon was a worldwide success, which led to numerous videogames, movies and even led to kids (myself included) learning how to make pizza. The setup was simple and the mix of action and comedy was perfect, despite the fact in the UK they were heavily censored and even dubbed 'Hero Turtles' as it was felt that 'Ninja' was too dangerous for kids to hear?
 
The set includes 18 episodes (which last about 20 minutes each) and also four episodes that have never been seen before. These actually came from Season Ten of the Turtles and so unless Lionsgate are not going to be releasing that, it seems a little odd to include them here. Considering the buzz about this being the 25th Anniversary since their creation this set has no extras to show for it. It would have been nice to have had a short documentary about the creation of the series, the Turtles' huge success or maybe even a commentary over the first episode. However, that is made up for by the fact that there is almost eight hours of entertainment here over the three disks.
 
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a great nostalgia blast for me, back to a time when cartoons were simple and when kids didn't need musicals or girl's changing their hair colour to entertain us. For those kids who have not experienced the sheer awesomeness of turtle power, then this is just the set for you. Cowabunga!!!