Customer Reviews

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 1

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My grandson is 3 and he really enjoys the TMNT. My son was "into" the TMNT as well and we had the movies on VHS only. I was very please and so was my little grandson to find them on DVD. He watches them often.

This dvd is excellent. I took me a few minutes for me to jog my memory of the episodes, but I enjoyed every minute of them. Well worth the buy for the price. And when they say never before seen episodes they weren't kidding, I don't remember those bonus episodes at all.

The cover of this DVD had me worried, but the episodes ARE the original 5 (and then 3 of the later ones that make you realise why the series was cancelled). The bonus episodes were a little odd, and the DVD put the first 2 in the wrong order. My friend and I didn't understand the first one at all, and then we realised it should have been second.
But overall, this was worth the money just to see those first 5 episodes, I had never seen the first ones as a kid. It was also funny to realise that James Avery (Uncle Phil from Fresh Prince of Bel Air) is the voice of Shredder.

The cover of this DVD had me worried, but the episodes ARE the original 5 (and then 3 of the later ones that make you realise why the series was cancelled). The bonus episodes were a little odd, and the DVD put the first 2 in the wrong order. My friend and I didn't understand the first one at all, and then we realised it should have been second.
But overall, this was worth the money just to see those first 5 episodes, I had never seen the first ones as a kid. It was also funny to realise that James Avery (Uncle Phil from Fresh Prince of Bel Air) is the voice of Shredder.

IF THE ONLY THING STOPPING YOU FROM BUYING THIS DVD IS THE KIDDIE LOOKING BOX ART, DON'T WORRY. IT'S NOT AS BAD AS IT LOOKS IN THE PICTURES SHOWN. I JUST GOT MY COPY FROM AMAZON AND IT DID NOT HAVE THOSE HAPPY FACES DOWN THE SPINE OF THE DVD COVER.

GREAT BUY, AND A MUST-HAVE FOR MY DVD COLLECTION.

COWABUNGA!!!

the first 5 episodes are great but one thing bad is that they should've made the bonus episodes like one from season 8 called REVENGE OF THE FLY(last appearences of baxter the fly which he goes mad on revenge n turns every one in the city into mutant insects like himself). They also should put (turtles trek episode for bonus to cuz that's the last regular episode of long time enemy shredder where the technodrome gets destoryed)...

MY favorit teenage mutant ninja turtles character which is one of the bad guys is BAXTER STOCKMAN the fly, unfortionally they don't show him as a fly on DVD.

I already have a tons of ninja turtles VHS tapes, but I search though the whole tire internet an can't find REVENGE OF THE FLY, and TURTLES TREK episodes to buy or down load.

turtles trek is one season 9 on tmnt series.

But it was nice of them to put dregg on bonus episodes cuz I like him to, but I'm still dissappointed cuz there's alot of old skool ninja turtles episodes out there that I want to see, defenly the 2 I listed.

The new ninja turtles on fox 25 is a good show but not near as good as the old skool ninja turtles that I grew up watching.

OK, after reading some of the reviews that have been posted since my last one, I feel obligated to clear a few things up.

First and foremost, to anybody who keeps referring to this as the "original" TMNT: this cartoon series was NOT the first incarnation of the turtles! TMNT started out as a black-and-white, PG-13 rated comic book series created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman in 1984, 3 years before the original cartoon ever premiered. It was definitely NOT something for young kids to look at due to the amount of violence and general content of it, plus ALL the turtles wore red in that one, not just Raphael; the only reason they have different colored bandanas in the cartoon was so children could distinguish who was who. It was this series that about 90% of the first movie and the current cartoon are based off of.

Next, for those who are totally confused about Dregg: Dregg is an alien, meaning he's not from Dimension X. He's in no way connected to Shredder and Krang other than when he pulled them out of Dimension X in the hope that they could help him defeat the turtles in a 3-episode story arc in the last season of the cartoon. He didn't totally come out of the blue either; in the first episode of season 9, "The Unknown Ninja", Dregg makes his debut when his ship (the Dreggnaut) enters our solar system. He's a fugitive of war and trying to find gold (for what purpose I don't remember). One thing leads to another, and he and Hi-Tech make plans to sneakily conquer Earth, and of course the Turtles come to the rescue.

Now, what do I actually have to say about this particular DVD? Not much since I've already reviewed it twice below, but I will say this: given the reaction of some of the people who bought this and their disappointment with the content of the DVD, I have my own personal hopes that this was nothing more than a market field test to see how much people wanted to see this show on DVD. I think it worked out pretty well, which brings me to my suggessting to Artisan if they're reading this: give the show its proper "season set" treatment including a basic cover art layout that can be applied to all future sets, more appropriate bonus materials such as old toy commercials et cetera, and, while it might be impossible to do, a complete remastering of the audio and video, including replacing the modified/muffled version of the opening theme with the one where "Heroes in a half-shell" isn't distorted (it exists, I have it too).

This release still deserves all 5 stars regardless.

As thrilled as I am to know that the golden egg of childhood television has been brought to my home, especially since it's in DVD format this time, I still have my share of complaints against the DVD itself. I don't know if some of these drawbacks were because of monetary problems or something else, because they seem like problems Artisan could have easily circumvented, but whatever the reason, it should be changed for the next TMNT DVD. And it really, really would be in Artisan's best interest to make another one of these DVDs. Fans who watched this show a little bit more than a decade ago and fans of the new series will always continue to purchase these DVDs as long as they continue to be released.

THE GOOD:
-I like the slip on cover. You don't see too many of those these days outside of Disney DVDs. But they did make it a little too tight...
-Some may complain about the simple, silly looking artwork, but it fits the DVD just fine. The silly, simple happiness of the cover captures the essence of the first season, if not the whole series. However, future season DVDs should have a different, maybe more exciting cover, like with Casey Jones/Krang/Shredder/etc. (this cover suits this DVD perfectly, though).
-The price. Another reason why I would buy ten of these DVDs (if there were ten) instead of two of the new TMNT DVDs.
-The original TMNT were brought to DVD!!! This mere fact makes this DVD better than most out there. PLEASE RELEASE MORE OF THESE ARTISAN!

THE BAD:
-The bonus episodes. Initially I was excited to finally see the tenth season episodes that I knew were not available on VHS (nor were shown on television), but it was way too early for these episodes to be released. First of all, none of the fans have any idea where this Dregg guy has come from, whether he is an alien or a Dimension X fiend, and what his connection to the Shredder/Krang is. I did like Lord Dregg, however. Introducing a down-to-evil-business baddie is a nice contrast to the silly Dimension X freaks (not that I don't love them or anything). They were out of order too...I watched the first bonus episode, then the second bonus episode, then I had to go back and watch the first bonus episode again just to understand what was going on. If they are going to release a small part of a saga few fans are familiar with, they can at least put episodes that follow each other one after the other and putting them in order wouldn't hurt either.
-Bad choice of bonus episodes. To elaborate on what I started saying above, there are plenty of better bonus episode choices they could have made. Such examples would include character fan-favorite (episodes) like "Slash" and "Usagi Yojimbo" (fans of the Usagi Yojimbo comics would love this, too). Those episodes are also not available on VHS. Whatever they do...they better not include the concluding episodes in the next DVD...because many fans would not feel like buying any DVDs they would release after that, since they know the ending.
-Why no special features? Is it because there were bonus episodes? If so, then I take this comment back: special features are NOT a better alternative to bonus episodes, at least not for the first couple of season DVDs. Still, an interview, some old commercials, movie/toy/cartoon advertisements, new TMNT previews would be greatly appreciated.
-Lack of subtitles. Yes, I can speak english just fine, and understand it too, but I still could have swore I heard "noobs" and "boob tube" being said in the first couple of episodes. Subtitles should not be a high priority should Artisan release another season, but they will definitely not hurt.
-Chapter breaks. Not only could you not press rewind from the beginning of one episode to see the end of the previous episode, but chapter breaks in general did not exist.
-Boring DVD menu. I didn't expect for them to put an episode as an intro, even so, they could have put the instrumental [original] theme song in the background if nothing else. Or, just, anything really. Too simple.

Maybe some of these flaws are because of the wonderful cheap price, maybe not, but if so, then Artisan should consider increasing the price $5-10 to make the DVD a little bit more exciting. I know I would put down that extra bit of money if the DVD was bettered somehow.

I am giving 5 stars to this release because it's the original TMNT and 3 stars to the DVD quality, so the average would make that 4.

I'm a fan of both the original and new (current) series, but I'm not so fanatical as to know the exact order the episodes came in. This DVD has five of the earliest episodes (supposedly the first five, in order), with a "play all" DVD menu option, but there's no way to chapter-skip within each episode. The sound and picture quality are what's to be expected of an animated TV show from the 80s.

The four bonus episodes are later in the series, and don't seem to be in chronological order on the DVD. There's no "play all" for these episodes either, unfortunately. The fact that these bonus shows are included makes me think they might not release any more original series DVDs, which would be a shame. Or maybe they're only going to release the first season or two (in my opinion, it didn't improve with age).

I highly recommend this DVD to any fan of the original series simply for nostalgia, and also to any parent of a young child (4-10) who seems to enjoy the new/current series. The new/current series is action with a little humor (more appropriate for teens), whereas the original series on this DVD is humor with a little action, and is more appropriate for younger kids.

All I can say is thank the mighty lord for the return of the old ninja turtles. I grew up watching this stuff and its exactly like I remember it, the only thing is I wish I could find more of the older episodes from the 80's if anyone knows where I can get more like these ones gimme a holla.... email me jordinandel@hotmail.com and thank you again for the greatest show ever that I remember as a kid!!! :)