Exploring the staying power of your favorite turtles
The newest TMNT movie’s release date has been moved up by a week, coming out August 4th of 2023 instead of the 11th. This will be Nickelodeon Animation Studios’ first CG theatrical release. Nickelodeon is partnering with Point Grey Pictures’ Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and James Weaver. The fact that there even is another big screen adventure in their future had me wondering what’s the secret to the Turtle’s staying power?
I was too young to notice their comic debut in 1984. That’s when Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird unveiled their black and white duotoned comic to the world. By the time you could buy the action figures and the live action movie had hit theaters in 1990, I was hooked. Due in large part to the animated series that ran from 1987-1996. Prime formative years for this nerd.
Eventually I grew up and ditched all my Ninja Turtle action figures and went off to college. You know the rest: job, marriage, kids, etc. Yet, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles still seemed to exist just on the periphery of pop culture stardom. When I started to take notice again they had teamed up with everyone from Batman to The Transformers. Suddenly, I found myself adding The Last Ronin to my pull list at my local comic shop. This is just one TMNT comic among several you can find on the shelves. The Last Ronin tells the story of the last Turtle left, his bothers all having been killed by Shredder’s grandson, and he vowing to get revenge. It’s set in a bleak dystopian future. He carries all of the weapons of his fallen brothers, and he. is. mad. Combine that with finding out that this installment is written by the two OG’s themselves… Sign me up!
It had been 20 years or so since I had been in the world of the Ninja Turtles and I thought how fun to take a dip back into it. I didn’t know the plot of the story until I bought the book. It was nice to see a not so teenaged ninja turtle all grown up and hardened after experiencing the things that life had dealt him. I read the first issue and thought, “It me.”
This had me wondering, what do we see in the turtles that keep us going back? Shockingly, there aren’t too many think pieces on this. I’m left to pose that question to myself, and to you, the reader. Is it strictly nostalgia that inadvertently gets passed down via generational fanboy osmosis? Is it that the turtles are timeless? I mean, they were cool then why can’t they be cool now? Or is it something deeper? A story of brotherly love? Working as a team? Overcoming obstacles? Recognizing wisdom from a mentor? Knowing that a supreme pizza contains all four major food groups? I don’t know. Like I said, I don’t have the answer. Maybe it’s being able to point to something that was done well, that is still doing well.
Lately, a lot of new pop culture seems only able to exist on the coattails of existing properties. For example: The Rise of Skywalker, the newly announced Rings of Power, and even the last Indiana Jones. I mean, it’s nice to see an IP stand the test of time. The secret is harnessing the ability to tell new and compelling stories that people want to watch and read.
The original live action TMNT movie released in 1990 holds up surprisingly well. It remains one of the best big screen adaptations to date. Thirty years later, The Last Ronin delivers both nostalgia and nuance to a character we all loved when we were kids. Except now the high fives are gone. So are the “cowabunga’s”, and the wise cracks. Instead it’s a turtle dealing with his past, grieving over his family, and trying to figure out if he’s up to the task. Will he be able to honor the legacy they’ve left behind? Not a lot of stories can these days, but what I’m surprised to realize is that the Ninja Turtles do. Totally.