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Toys on Film: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
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Pop some popcorn and grab the candy; Dave and Erik are headed to the movies! This week the boys revive and relaunch "Toys on Film" a series of special episodes analyzing films that have a close relationship with, and have a had a major impact on, toys! There's no better place than to start with 1990's iconic TMNT film, so make sure you've recently watched the film and let's all go to the movies!
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Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
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Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
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Transcript
Summer Fun & Sponsor Shoutout
00:00:01
Speaker
The summer is here. That means outdoor festivals, comic-cons, and the perfect weather for toy hunts. As the weather heats up and you're out there enjoying yourself, stay hydrated with our show's sponsor, Liquid IV. Liquid IV hydrates two times faster than water alone and three times the electrolytes of traditional sports drinks, and it's easy to use. Just rip open a pouch, pour one of their delicious flavors into a water bottle, and shake it up.
00:00:30
Speaker
With sea berry, strawberry lemonade, concord grape, lemon lime, pina colada, tropical punch, watermelon, guava, and more to choose from, there is a flavor for everyone. So whether you're on that long toy hunt, spending 10 hours on your feet walking your favorite comic-con, or getting your sweat on, stay hydrated and healthy with Liquid IV. Get 20% off when you go to liquidiv.com
00:00:56
Speaker
and use code AICPOD at checkout. That's 20% off anything you order when you shop better hydration today using promo code AICPOD at liquidiv.com.
00:01:17
Speaker
Are you ready, kids? Get your parents' permission, check your mailbox, and grab your shopping cart.
Podcast Introduction: Adventures in Collecting
00:01:24
Speaker
It's time for the Adventures in Collecting podcast. I'm Eric. And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture, and hauls, along with our journeys as collectors. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting.
00:01:48
Speaker
Get your popcorn ready, everybody. Oh, yeah. We're going to the movies.
Toys & Movies: The Connection Begins
00:01:55
Speaker
Welcome back to... It's been a long time since we've done toys on film. In fact, we've only done it one other time, and it wasn't actually film. It was Netflix streaming, because we did one episode on the toys that made us. No, I thought we talked about the whole run, or the whole first season.
00:02:17
Speaker
Yes, but we did one episode on the toys that made us. So toys and movies, they go hand in hand, whether it's movies that are based on toys or some of the best toys that have ever existed have been ones that have been based on film and television properties.
The Barbie Movie Phenomenon
00:02:40
Speaker
toys on film is something that is very apropos right now, as we record this in August of 2023, as the arguably the biggest toy brand, if not the, uh, one of the biggest toy brands of all time. The, the, the Barbie brand, uh, is breaking all sorts of records at the box office. Um, congratulations to that entire team. That movie is fantastic.
00:03:07
Speaker
If you guys like this whole toys on film thing, we will eventually get to Barbie because we both saw it and it was fantastic. But we were thinking about how to kind of reboot this idea of doing toys on film. Those of you who know us personally, all like four of you that listen.
00:03:31
Speaker
listen to this, that no one's personally know that outside of toys, the other, one of the other things that, uh, that Dave and I both share a very, very deep and profound love of is, is film and cinema. And, um, you know, this is very much sort of crossroads for us. So, um, we were thinking, you know, in a way to reboot this, what's a movie that is kind of lives in that, you know, kind of iconic
00:04:00
Speaker
area of nostalgia and kind of cultural importance.
Ninja Turtles 1990 Film Introduction
00:04:07
Speaker
And it's something that is always kind of a hot topic in toys and has been for 30, almost 40 years. The Ninja Turtles. Yeah, I was going to say, I like to think of it as what started out as a toy and then became a movie. Yeah, and in this case,
00:04:27
Speaker
the Ninja hurdles. Uh, this we've, we've gotten four movies, five, no, five now. That's right. I always forget about the no more than that five, seven movies, right? Cause we got this, you get the original, which we're going to do. Too animated. Yeah.
00:04:48
Speaker
We got the original, which we're going to discuss today. So 1990s, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles trilogy. Let's see. And then you have Secret of the Ooze and Turtles in Time. Then you have TMNT.
1990: A Cultural Snapshot
00:05:00
Speaker
That was the animated one. The animated one. And then the two Michael Bay ones.
00:05:05
Speaker
and then oh yeah and then then you know the newest moon mayhem is which would be the second animated yes yes sorry you're correct wasn't thinking about it like that I was like wait a second there were two animated ones but um anyway so turtles were real man
00:05:21
Speaker
They're real to me. Yeah, so arguably we're going back to, not arguably, we're going back to when The Turtles debuted on film for the first time on the silver screen. So Dave, why don't you take us back to 1990? In this case, two days after your birthday in 1990. That was one of the fun facts about 1990.
00:05:51
Speaker
when the movie opened. I turned nine two days before the movie opened. The movie opened on March 30th, 1990. The top TV show in the ratings for the year because I couldn't find the week. So this was for the entirety of 1990. Thank you Wikipedia was cheers. Where everybody knows your name. Yeah, which has also had always but
00:06:21
Speaker
They had Funko. The top song on the Billboard music charts, the top single, top song, was a song called Black Velvet by Alana Miles, which I do remember. Great song. That's like, Black Velvet. Yeah, it's all right. Yeah, I can hear the melody in my head. Great song.
00:06:50
Speaker
Um, the top album on the Billboard charts, um, which is peak spring nineties, um, time love and tenderness by Michael Bolton. I will not be singing any, any Michael Bolton. You're welcome. Um, this one was, uh, the next fact that we mentioned already was not on Wikipedia. Um,
00:07:18
Speaker
yet or billboard.com. And that was that I turned nine, two days before the movie opened, as we said. Um, and then this is just a fun fact, um, that I just remember. Um, but I, I'm sure some website will corroborate it or not. Um, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was the most successful independent film, um, of all time.
Ninja Turtles: A Commercial Triumph
00:07:45
Speaker
And it was unseated in 1999 by the then most successful independent film of all time, The Blair Witch Project. Because New Line was not owned by Warner Brothers yet. Oh, yeah, that's true. That's true. It was still the house that Freddie built. Yes, it still was the house that Freddie built. So just kind of thinking about it real quick, right?
00:08:11
Speaker
We'll get to this a little bit later on, but while there were no toys at the time that were directly from this movie or for this movie, the Ninja Turtles in terms of being a toy line were well into their popularity, their arc of popularity. The cartoon was huge.
00:08:37
Speaker
Yep, the Playmates toys were everywhere. They were one of the most popular toy lines at the time.
00:08:45
Speaker
The turtles at this point, you know, going back to their, their origin with Mirage comics, uh, you know, the, the, that first issue, uh, by, by, uh, Eastman and Laird was 1984. So, you know, we're only six years into the turtles existence. And, um, they went from being kind of a dark, gritty comic with, uh, with Mirage comics to being a brighter, more kid friendly, um,
00:09:13
Speaker
cartoon, a Saturday morning cartoon, to going back to being something gritty that was a little more a blend between the two with the 1990 film. And then just to celebrate the success of the film, Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, and Raphael went on a music tour at the end of the year and released a
00:09:42
Speaker
I guess highly successful album at Pizza Hut. Coming out of their shells. Yeah. And then proceeded to become Kiss. Pizza Power still slaps, man. That song is great. Flying Saucer, Food Delight. Yeah. It's such a good song. And if you're really curious, like if you... We definitely had it on cassette.
00:10:12
Speaker
But if you really want to experience it, head on over to YouTube and just search Ninja Turtles coming out of their shells. The entire, I think it's like 90 minutes. Yeah, it was like a VHS that came out. It was from the, I think it was Radio City, wasn't it? Mass in Square Garden.
00:10:29
Speaker
Or it was MSG? Yes, I think it's MSG. Because I just watched it with the girls. We went to go see Mutant Mayhem. And I'm pretty sure it's MSG. I could be wrong. Maybe it was Radio City. But it was definitely- I thought it was Radio City because I-
00:10:44
Speaker
I remember wanting to go. It was definitely, it was Radio City. It was definitely in New York City, um, which is apropos, you know, it being the turtles and everything. But, um, there is a, a really, uh, it's a time capsule. It's a time capsule of a thing. Um, just, just go enjoy it. Go, go watch it. If you're, if you're, if you're curious, if you've never seen it, just go on YouTube, search for it. You can watch the whole thing on there or as much as,
00:11:12
Speaker
as much as you're willing to subject yourself to. Um, so before we do a quick recap of the movie itself, uh, Dave, you've pulled the log line here from the original, uh, from the original VHS release by family home entertainment. Um, would you, would you like to, would you like to do us all solid and, and read this, this, uh,
00:11:40
Speaker
super informative logline from the back of the VHS. Yeah. Um, so the logline from family home entertainments, original VHS, you probably remember it well, the, uh, black and green slipcover. Um, now you can catch America's favorite green teens in their first live action blockbuster film after waiting in a puddle of radioactive waste.
00:12:09
Speaker
These radical reptiles are transformed into New York City's greatest crime-fighting quartet. Featuring hot new music by M.C. Hammer, this film will captivate adults and kids alike with its blend of humor, camaraderie, and martial arts action. Don't miss this blockbuster movie. You'll have one shell of a good time.
00:12:35
Speaker
I don't like that the hit single by Partners in Crime was left out of the logline. Yeah, that's the big one. I had that cassette single of that. It's a great song. Turtle Power. Yeah. T-U-R-T-L-E power. Yeah, that's another song that still slaps. Yeah. The MC Hammer song is like, isn't that in the beginning when everyone's eating pizza? No more when it's cutting through the city?
00:13:02
Speaker
No, the MC Hammer song is when you go to, like, the Foot Clan Clubhouse. That's right. All the cool kids. All the cool kids are listening to Hammer. Sam Rockwell's listening to MC Hammer while asking if you want regulars or menthols. Yeah, which, you know.
00:13:21
Speaker
I just rewatched it again for this. And I'm like, oh, that's Sam Rockwell. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So as as we kind of go through some things here, we're going to we're going to shout out some of our our followers and listeners.
Ninja Turtles Cast & NECA Figures
00:13:38
Speaker
Since we didn't have we don't have a Q&A section this time, we did put a post up on on our Instagram account and our threads account X X.
00:13:49
Speaker
at AIC underscore podcast where we told people we were gonna be talking about this movie and we wanted to collect some of their favorite moments and shouts to our friend, friend of the pod, Mike, at the figure report with the regular or menthol reference there, of course, calling out to Sam Rockwell's little- I feel like that was partners in crimes like only song ever. I might've been, I've never, I don't recall them,
00:14:18
Speaker
name ever coming up and it's crime with a K too I believe. And a Y. It's right it's K-R-Y because it's because they're crime and in rhyming. Yeah because if you if you've if you want to look it up you've got to make sure otherwise you'll get the kiss song partners in crime so you want second kiss reference in this episode that has nothing to do with the movie so you'll get
00:14:46
Speaker
You need to spell it correctly. Yeah. Otherwise you're going to miss it. So, uh, some, some, some of the cast here, we'll just go through this real fast. So, uh, of course, actually what I think we, you should do, um, cause you know, the, the NECA figures for the movie. Um, did they get a figure?
00:15:09
Speaker
Oh yeah, we could do this, okay. Short answer is yes for all but three people on this list, I think. Yes. Okay. Wait, I'm looking. Well, yeah, we'll get this. All right, so of course we're starring Judith Hogue as April O'Neill. And she was only in this one.
00:15:34
Speaker
Yep. She's, she was only in this one. Um, and so fun, fun fact about Judith Hogue as, as April O'Neill, she actually has a three figures. So she's got two that have already been released. So she has her regular, you know, the, the, the kind of dress and skirt that she's in kind of like her hero outfit, if you will. Um, that she wears as a reporter.
00:16:01
Speaker
Then she has like the summer house outfit you know when she's when she's sketching sketching the turtles and then there's actually a third figure that's coming out the neck is producing so one of the things that kind of often comes up with the design of April's wardrobe in this film is obviously she's not wearing the classic.
00:16:20
Speaker
yellow jumpsuit. But she recently on Instagram along with our friends at NECA, ShoutsToBlaine, revealed that they did actually screen test a yellow jumpsuit. However, she said it was way too tight, like uncomfortably tight.
00:16:38
Speaker
she put them on and they're like go like take a walk like see if they kinda like stretch out if you like you know they get more comfortable they loosen up on you know that's not how that works so she said she walked out onto the set like on like off the soundstage like onto like outside onto the set and um uh elias uh katais who plays casey jones was standing outside and basically said to her like judith you're gonna you're gonna turn around you're gonna go back inside you're gonna take those off
April O'Neil: Costume Choices
00:17:09
Speaker
Um, and, uh, yeah, she got back in and like the costume designers and everything were like, yeah, this is, this is not going to work. This is way too tight, a little too revealing. I think we're just going to stick with modernizing April's look and giving her like regular clothes, like clothes that somebody would have worn in 1990. Um.
00:17:30
Speaker
And she's got the yellow raincoat. Yes. So that was the split. That was a nod. That was the nod. However, there has only been one live action actress to wear that yellow jumper, that classic yellow jumper in official promotional material. And that was the actress that wore it on the side of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade cabinet.
00:17:54
Speaker
So what they're doing is they're doing this kind of like behind the scenes, deleted scenes, homage type of a figure. That's Judith Hogue in the yellow jumper that appears on the Ninja Turtles arcade cabinet. So she will have a third NECA figure coming. Heavily hinted that we'll see more of that at New York Comic Con. So stay tuned. They did show us kind of like a work in progress prototype, but more to come on that.
00:18:21
Speaker
So then we mentioned, of course, Elias Katais as Casey Jones. He also has three figures from NACA. So he has a permanent masked head in a two-pack with a Raphael. With a trench coat Raphael. With a trench coat Raphael.
00:18:42
Speaker
Then he has an ultimate, a single pack ultimate that has, you know, the removable mask. Um, and then he also has a summer house, uh, undercover lay low Casey outfit and sweat pants. Um, Michael tourney is Danny. Danny does have a neck of figure. Uh, he was part of loot crate. So, um, one of them, I think he was the first figure in it. Yep. One of the more rare ones. Um,
00:19:12
Speaker
Toshihiro Obata as Master Tatsu. They are trying desperately to find, uh, Mr. Obata in order to reach out to him and make a figure of him. So if you know how to get in touch with Toshihiro Obata, please reach out to Neko. Or if you happen to know him personally, because they would love to get a Tatsu figure out there. Shredder.
00:19:38
Speaker
Uh, did I skip over Shredder? You did. Oh, I did. Uh, James Saito as Shredder. Yes. He also has, uh, has had two figures. Yes. He had a single pack. Um, but I think might've been a GameStop exclusive and then he's in a two pack with, uh, with splinter. Um, Corey Feldman as, as Donatello. I think he's also out of the mask Shredder as well. So I think his throwback.
00:20:08
Speaker
Yeah, no sake is him. Oh, yes, that's right. That's right. There is a there is that two pack two of the the Aroko Saki and Hamada Yoshi from the flashback. Yeah with the with the rat in a cage. Corey Feldman is Donatello. Brian Tochi is Leonardo. Robbie Rist is Michelangelo. Josh Pi.
00:20:31
Speaker
I don't know if that's pies or pie. I'm going to go with pie as, uh, as Raphael, of course, the turtles have all gotten their fair share of, of treatments, both in a four-pack voice talent. Yes. Um, they have gotten a four-pack that was, I believe a comic con exclusive initially that came in what it looked like a giant VHS box standard of how they've, they've done secret of those and turtles in time as well. Um, as well as two packs.
00:21:02
Speaker
And then we have Kevin Clash as Splinter. He has gotten also a couple of releases. He's part of the two-pack from Neko we mentioned earlier with Shredder. He had a GameStop exclusive single-pack. And then he was also in Loot Crate as Ghost as like the spectral Splinter when he appears to the Turtles after he's kidnapped.
00:21:30
Speaker
And then we have Sam Rockwell, who mentioned him a little earlier, as well as the Head Thug. He is credited as Head Thug. Head Thug. Menfalls or regular Menfall. And he also basically tells Chief Stearns what he needs to know at the end of the movie.
00:21:51
Speaker
It's true. He has not had a figure, though he's definitely high on everyone's lists. Scott Wolf and Skeet Ulrich, this is actually news to me. I did not know this, Dave. Scott Wolf and Skeet Ulrich are uncredited thugs. Yeah, it's on IMDb. I could not spot them. Fun. Yeah. Skeet Ulrich. All right. Yeah, so pretty much NECA has pretty much covered their bases with this movie.
00:22:20
Speaker
in terms of releasing the characters from it. Tatsu is really kind of the white whale at this point of the most wanted. So yeah, hopefully that would be awesome because, you know, we're not talking about Secret of the Ooz, but, you know, he also appears in that film. So it would definitely be a slam dunk if they could get him.
Jim Henson's Creature Shop Contribution
00:22:47
Speaker
This was written by Todd Langan and Bobby Herbeck, directed by Steve Barron, of course based on the characters by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. And the puppets and turtle costumes used in this were made by the Jim Henson Creature Shop. And I believe it was the last
00:23:10
Speaker
thing worked on by the Creature Shop while Jim Henson was still with us. He passed right before the opening. At New York Comic Con last year, NECA, and again, shouts to our buddy Blaine at Blaine or Things, designer NECA, he moderated a panel with Todd and Bobby.
00:23:34
Speaker
And they told a lot of different stories about how this movie kind of came together and how they initially were with one studio. I'm blanking on the studio that they originally had signed up with, but the studio bailed on them.
00:23:52
Speaker
But when they were working with the Jim Henson Creature Shop, they actually had, um, forgive me, I forget whether it was Bobby or Todd, but one of them was actually writing the film at the Jim Henson Creature Shop while Henson and the artists were making the costumes and was almost acting as like an advisor. And one of the cool things that they mentioned was Jim Henson was really interested in knowing the writing beats of the script.
00:24:22
Speaker
because he wanted the suits to be able to do what they needed them to do in the movie. So like the fact that they, you know, the, the stunt actors that were in, um, in the suits were able to do like back flips and you know, all that stuff. They needed basically two versions of the suits. They needed a suit that could work as a stunt suit. And then, you know, obviously the suit with all the armature and stuff in the head and you know, um, all the puppetry and everything. So really cool to see how kind of like,
00:24:52
Speaker
one thing influenced the development of another with the development of the film.
Plot Overview of Ninja Turtles Film
00:25:02
Speaker
So the film itself, Dave, I feel like we should take people, I mean, spoiler alert for a movie that's what, 36 years old? 32. 32, yeah. Let's take people through the movie. I'm glad it came out that close to my birthday so I could do this math.
00:25:23
Speaker
We did it. So the movie, I would say my kind of earliest memories of the movie, most fondest memories of the movie, because obviously I was only two when this came out. So I definitely, my experience, I remember when Secret of the Ooz came out. I can remember seeing stuff on TV for it. Probably might have even taken me to the Williams Center at the movie theater to see it.
00:25:53
Speaker
But I'm pretty sure I took you to see three for sure. That I can vividly remember and all the people throwing popcorn at the screen. Um, but, uh, with this movie, you know, I remember watching it on VHS and I just remember thinking in the intro was so cool, you know, we're like, you can't, you don't see the turtles, like the, like the logo comes up. Yeah. Yeah. And then the reveal. Yeah. Yeah. It was very, very smartly done. Um,
00:26:20
Speaker
But, uh, yeah, let's, let's kind of real quick go through the, the beats of the movie here. So, um, very smartly done unless you saw the trailer. Yeah. Right. Um, or the commercials for it or the, like the, the spots for it on like the, the animated, uh, the VHS is everywhere. Yeah. It was, it was everywhere. Um, yeah. So the turtles, right? We get the typical backstory of the turtles here. You know, they're the, they're,
00:26:50
Speaker
Splinter was a, uh, a rat in, uh, in Hamato Yoshi's dojo. Learned watching his master perform, uh, perform in jitsu. And, uh, you know, he had a long standing rivalry with who we, we learned to be, who we learned his shredder, you know, later on in the film, uh, in, in, uh, why am I blanking on his name?
00:27:18
Speaker
uh him and the turtles are come across the the tgri ooze and mutate into the teenage mutant ninja turtles and the anthropomorphic man rat splinter um but we get we get april and casey um you know casey your
00:27:40
Speaker
You know, the, the, uh, hockey player, former hockey player, vigilante, uh, roaming around 1990 New York city, which is a lot different than the New York city of today. Uh, you know, cleaning up crime throughout central park and, you know, his, his normal beats around the city, uh, has a, has a iconic run in with, with Raphael early in the movie.
00:28:07
Speaker
Um, one of, one of everybody's, uh, favorite lines. Um, I have, I have to give credit to somebody who's shouting it out here. Uh, let's see where it went. I mean, which, which one? Cause there's so many in that. That whole exchange though, the, you got to know what a crumpet is to understand cricket. Jose can say go back. There's so there's so many good ones.
00:28:33
Speaker
Yeah. Like, why would it be bad that he had a bat of like the most famous baseball player at the time? And you know what, though, that the cricket line to with a cricket bat, that's probably the first time that a lot of people in the US saw a cricket bat like like like kids there, you know, like so. I mean, it is it is a funny line. The you put that that whole exchange where Raf ends up getting dumped in a garbage can.
00:29:04
Speaker
Yeah, he does not come out on the winning side Of course also a lot of use of the word damn in a kids movie. Yeah Yeah that that scene when he's when he was like, am I allowed to watch this? And now a word from our sponsors
00:29:28
Speaker
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00:32:30
Speaker
Well, this was, this was edgier, right? Like this was, um, not the cartoon turtles. This was, this was going, hearkening back to their origins. And, um, I'm going to, I'm going to refer back to the, the New York Comic Con panel from, uh, from last year with the, the, the writers of the film.
Writing for a Mature Audience
00:32:49
Speaker
Um, one of the things that was only PG though.
00:32:52
Speaker
Yes, but one of the things that they struggled with, um, they wanted to make a movie that didn't talk down to children. Like they wanted, they wanted the turtles to like treat everybody who was kind of coming into the movie with the same, um, kind of scope. And that was something that they talked about in the writing of it that like, they pushed as much as they could for language and for the turtles to kind of like talk with, you know, kind of a more,
00:33:21
Speaker
Adult oriented, um, speech with the exception of Mikey who, you know, of course is the, the comic relief in the film. Um, but, uh, especially with Raph, like they wanted Raph and Leo to really kind of like butt heads. They wanted, they wanted to see that friction between the two of them.
00:33:38
Speaker
And they wanted, they wanted kids to, you know, experience that. So that definitely comes across, um, in the film. Uh, of course your, your antagonist of the, of, of the movie is, is the shredder in the foot clan foot clan running their, their underground, uh, you know, uh, gray to black market trade of stolen goods. Uh, you know, you know, kind of rounding up the.
00:34:06
Speaker
kids from around New York to join their ranks. And April O'Neill is your crack news reporter who's trying to get to the bottom of the recent thefts. She's trying to get the scoop on these kids that call themselves the foot. Well, she doesn't know their kids. No, she doesn't know their kids. On these criminals that call themselves the foot.
00:34:35
Speaker
That are being headed up by Sam Rockwell. Yes, Sam Rockwell. His head thug. Head thug. Every good criminal organization needs a head thug, a good head thug. It's typical though. They could give him a name. Jeff. Sam. Jeff Vader. Yeah.
00:35:01
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's a good point, but there's always been characters like that in movies, like Woman in Red Dress. It's just like title. I guess. So it's not super uncommon. It is funny, though, that it turned out that Sam Rockwell is a very well-respected actor who
00:35:24
Speaker
started his career as head thug yeah it's like it's like if in iron man 3 he was like rich creep like yes yes rich rich creep that's good i like that um so of course uh you know the the the turtles come you know uh cross paths with april
00:35:50
Speaker
She freaks out, but they save her. She realizes that they're good. Of course, there's a story there, her being a reporter. She's talking about a super secret society of thieves that nobody believes her that this is what it is. So imagine her going on the news saying, yeah, there's four anthropomorphic turtles that are fighting the bad guys. Yeah, that's a quick way to get yourself
00:36:19
Speaker
And, um, I mean, ultimately at this time, like Danny gets picked up by the police, like they catch him and, um, Danny's father is April's boss. Um, and the police don't want April basically saying they're doing a bad job in the press and, you know, kind of.
00:36:49
Speaker
being able to like kind of outsmart them and know more than they do. So they're trying to silence April. So they basically, in order for Danny to not go to jail, the chief makes a deal with, um,
00:37:08
Speaker
Danny's father, I forget his name news channel six. Uh, no, it's channel three news channel three. That's right. Six is the animated story animated. Yeah. Yeah. News channel three. Uh, the editor in chief of news channel three, Danny's dad, which does not exist in New York. Um, but it's, uh, yeah, they basically make a deal where like he won't, Danny won't go to jail and April can't talk about this anymore.
00:37:39
Speaker
So April, of course, has no idea, goes on the news and talks about it. And as her apartment and father's antique store burns to the ground during a fight between the turtles, Casey and the Foot Clan, she gets fired. Things are not going well for April O'Neill. No. As her entire life burns to the ground.
00:38:08
Speaker
She's also getting fired. No, wait. So the next part is when is when Rafael gets the gets the crap kicked out of him by the Foot Clan. But I'm just realizing that we we missed a critical component here. So before we go forward, let's talk about one of the events that kind of set all of these these occurrences in motion. Let's let's take a step back for a moment. OK, so April's been fired and her house burns down and all that. But
00:38:38
Speaker
This chain of events is set off by Splinter being kidnapped. The reason Splinter gets kidnapped is because Raphael saves April O'Neill from foot soldiers on the literally most empty subway platform I've ever seen in my lifetime. And April gets knocked out and...
00:39:05
Speaker
they, Raphael brings her back to the sewer layer. However, um, he didn't knock out every foot soldier because somebody follows him back. Um, and he's like, Oh, this is where they are. So that's when splinter gets kidnapped. Yeah. And then they have him like basically just in a corner of the warehouse behind some like chain to the boxes and
00:39:32
Speaker
and fencing. There's a fence and there's boxes. And that's where Splinter lives. He's just chained there to the fence. So then, as they're... And that's where he can't go back. He tells Danny the backstory of the turtles there, right? Eventually. Yeah, at some point, yeah. But Danny is like a little... He's still trying to be a cool kid first. So... Hard air quotes on cool kid.
00:40:02
Speaker
He's trying to be a cool kid. Danny, I think this was, yeah, this is when Danny gets arrested. So Danny gets arrested and the news guy talks to the chief and they go to April's house. Charles. Charles? Yeah, his dad's name is Charles. So at this point, Danny sees the turtles are in April's house.
00:40:30
Speaker
and for April's apartment. And so then, you know, the shredders like got a team meeting about like, Hey, we've got to find these turtles. And Danny's like, I know where they are. And that's when they beat up Raphael on the roof and everything burns down and everything. The good guys have to retreat to the farmhouse and we're back.
00:40:56
Speaker
And now we're at the farmhouse. And this is where Leo gets his astral projection of Splinter and, hey guys, Splinter's alive. So they- Here's what we've got to do. We've got to go save him. Yep. He's alive. So we head back to New York City after everybody is recuperated and on the same page. And then we have a really cool-
00:41:25
Speaker
Then they go back to the lair to regroup because there's literally nowhere else to go. And Casey Jones is afraid of being inside a high ceilings, very open spaced sewer because he's claustrophobic. So he instead goes to sleep in a truck with the window open. That's right. And
00:41:53
Speaker
By the way, I'm making fun of, but like, this is a movie I loved when I was a kid and I still think is very entertaining. Um, but it's, there's some things that are very hilarious. Yeah. It's a very big, I mean, granted, yeah, you're underneath the city, but it's a very big space. It's roomy. You're not, it's, it's not tiny. It's not at tight quarters at all.
Iconic Rooftop Battle Scene
00:42:13
Speaker
So, um, especially considering like the front of a pickup truck is your other option.
00:42:19
Speaker
And he's not comfortable in there. He's like, if I remember correctly, he's squirming and kicking and trying to get comfortable. Yeah, he can't sleep. But then he sees, oh, who does he see? He sees the foot soldiers.
00:42:33
Speaker
Yes. And then, uh, and then it's on now we're in, now we're in the third act here. So what's really cool. Um, this all bubbles up to, um, a fight on the rooftop between the turtles and shredder a la issue one of the Mirage comic. And, um, yeah, during this point, Danny has a change of heart. Um, shredder or I'm sorry, splinter talks to him, tells him the whole story and.
00:43:03
Speaker
Cool. Yeah. And we, we get that, as I mentioned, we get that fight. That is a throwback to the very first issue of the comic. Um, minus minus shredder pulling out a grenade. Uh, but he gets kicked off the roof into a garbage truck and Casey Jones closes the, um, pulls the smasher button or the smasher lever on the,
00:43:28
Speaker
garbage truck and that is, in 1990, that is the end of Shredder. Everyone goes home happy. And then the police come and are like, what's going on here? And the, and Sam Rockwell basically points at Tatsu and says,
00:43:49
Speaker
It's his fault. It's on him. Yep. This guy. It's this guy's fault. It's this guy. It's not us. And as far as we know, at this moment, the Shredder has been destroyed. The Foot Clan has been stopped and everyone happy ending for all. So very, very cool movie. Still is a lot of fun. The suits still hold up really, really well. So how did the movie do, Dave?
00:44:20
Speaker
Yeah, there are some things that are a tad bit insensitive at this time. Yeah. You go back and you watch certain movies. There are things. There are some things that age poorly, and this is no exception. Phrasing. Phrasing. So we mentioned. What? I said phrasing. The phrasing of things. Oh, yes. It's problematic sometimes.
00:44:49
Speaker
So we mentioned that at the top, Dave mentioned that this was at the time the most successful independent film of all time. Yeah. And one thing I do want to point out too, a bunch of studios like got together to make the film, but the two most, I would say, well known of those, of course, New Line, New Line Cinema, the house that Freddie built eventually,
00:45:17
Speaker
part of the Go Up by Warner Brothers, part of the whole HBO Max family these days, and then Golden Harvest, which is a Hong Kong-based studio that is responsible for early Bruce Lee films, Jackie Chan films,
00:45:42
Speaker
Sam Ohung films so a lot of a lot of the greatest martial arts movie some of the greatest yeah martial arts films of all time like Police Story is a Golden Harvest film and it's sequels so you know Rumble in the Bronx
00:46:08
Speaker
So that, I think this was, I don't know if Golden Harvest and New Line had worked together prior to this, but like, you know, Rumble in the Bronx came out after this, like long after this, but after this. And that again was New Line and Golden Harvest. So. So the budget on this movie was 13.5 million.
00:46:32
Speaker
And on the opening weekend, it made that all back plus some as it. Yeah, it almost did that. Like that, you know, you know, you're good when you do double the budget because then marketing and everything else is out of the question. And this thing, you know, marketing du jour, it was everywhere, including Domino's being the pizza delivery in the film and Pizza Hut being the official pizza delivery of the film. That's true.
00:47:00
Speaker
You know, they got, they managed to get their competitors on, uh, both of them on retainer here. Um, what, and what, wait, what's the, what's the, uh, what's the pizza guy line? Uh, pizza dudes got one 22 and an eight. That's one 22 and an eighth. So whenever I'm thinking pizza delivery to this day, I think of one 22 and an eighth. And then, and then of course, uh, you're standing on it.
00:47:28
Speaker
Pizza dude's got 30 seconds. Uh, yeah, it's so good. Um, so it, uh, it made just about 25.4 mil on that opening weekend with a domestic gross of 135.3 million.
00:47:49
Speaker
and an international gross of, uh, of 66.7 million dollars. So huge, massive mega success. Yeah. Like the first four weekends it was out. One, the movie that it, so the number one movie in America, the weekend before turtles came out was pretty woman. Pretty woman did not win for another four weekends. Um, and then.
00:48:17
Speaker
After four weeks of Turtles, Pretty Woman won again. Hunt for Red October was like at the end of its run, but it was still like hanging in there at number two and it beat that too. So like, no slouches, two other movies that are very beloved. Yeah. This, this was an absolute smash and iconic.
00:48:39
Speaker
Smash, it took a property that was already a mega seller. Um, in the, in the mega seller and the column book aisle, the toy aisle on, on TV with the cartoons. And, and now, you know, it had made the jump to film and, you know, something else that I think is, is notable that doesn't really come up when people talk about the turtles that, that, you know, I always think about is right.
Comic Book Films: Ninja Turtles vs. Batman
00:49:05
Speaker
You had in 1989, you had Batman Tim Burton's Batman. Um,
00:49:10
Speaker
That was really kind of the first real successful. Comic book movie, right? Like showed that like, you know, comic books could be, could be films could be taken seriously as films. And then, you know, just a year later, you have four anthropomorphic turtle people made by Jim Henson studios.
00:49:32
Speaker
absolutely crushing it again at the box office. So you had two years in a row of, of properties that really started out as comic books, um, you know, taking, taking cinema by storm, um, might sound a little bit familiar to those of you listening now in 2023, you know, as, you know, comic book movies continue to be, um, you know, some of the most successful and, and, you know, most well liked movies at the box office. Um,
00:50:00
Speaker
Speaking of being well liked the tomato meter score. Yeah, it was not well liked by critics much like the comic book movies of today. Well, some of them. I feel like that's been less.
00:50:17
Speaker
in that MCU era. True. But 42% for critics with a whopping difference of 40% as 81% of audience scores find this movie to be fresh.
00:50:39
Speaker
What a place to start when you're talking about, you know, toys and how they translate to film. Um, this is a unique one on the list, right? Where there actually isn't a, uh, product at the time in 1990 that, uh, that tied into the film, you know, that there was no, and that's, that's wild to think about if he, like as a nine year old, like my animated turtles were my turtles for this movie.
00:51:05
Speaker
Yeah. That's that, that was your only option. I mean, you had many options of turtles at that point, like, you know, the different, you know, reskins of them turtles shell storage, but yeah, they were, they were the cartoon turtles that the playmates five inch cartoon turtles. Um, and a lot of people associate the turtles, the playmates turtles that came out later for secret of the ooze in a slightly different style that were made to look more like the, the, the movie turtles.
00:51:33
Speaker
A lot of people associate those with the 1990 movie when really, you know, their brain was doing the translation for them on that one. Those were for the secret of the ooze. And then those are like very different. They feel like the, even like the facial characteristics of... Yeah, they had the more like, they were smiley, they were a little more goofy, like they were in Secret of the Oooze. Yeah, I prefer these, the first movie, Turtles. Same, same.
00:52:01
Speaker
I think overall, I'm more of a Secret of the Us person. I think I enjoy that movie more than the original one, but I do prefer the design of the turtles, the more serious design. Speaking of which... It's a sillier movie, Secret of the Us. Yeah, it's closer to the cartoon than the comic.
00:52:25
Speaker
But we mentioned them when we were going through the cast list at the top here, but NECA has really, across the board, the bulk of their fandom and production is around the Ninja Turtles. So whether it's the Archie comics, the Mirage comics, the
00:52:47
Speaker
the Fred Wolf cartoons, the films, NECA is absolutely smashing it out of the park with their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles offering. And they continue to find new ways to kind of keep growing it, but a lot of people hold the 1990 turtle line in very, very high regard, both in
00:53:18
Speaker
You know, aesthetic quality and also toy edit quality. They really translated those Jim Henson suits to, you know, to toy form in a truly remarkable way. Those figures look fantastic. They look like little versions of what you saw on the screen.
00:53:40
Speaker
Yeah, there's a lot of technology out there that helps with like facial scans to make people look like people and, you know, whether it's wrestling figures or Marvel or DC or whatever. There's still always that little bit of like uncanny valley that like, this looks like a little person.
00:53:58
Speaker
I'm with the turtles and splinter and shredder with his mask on everything i because they aren't based on a human thing they're based on something that's already manufactured. They look fantastic like they don't look creepy they they really just. They really nailed it they really nailed those figures the textures of the.
00:54:20
Speaker
the turtles. Dave mentioned, of course, the musical experience, the coming out of their shells tour. They even put those turtles out. So as the musical mutagen tour turtles was a con exclusive for 2021 or 2020, which is literally my favorite for Ninja Turtles figures that I have. It's like something that I hold very, very near and dear.
00:54:51
Speaker
Yeah, and the kind of ripples and waves from that first film are still being felt today. In fact, as we were recording this, the newest Ninja Turtles movie, Mutant Mayhem,
00:55:06
Speaker
animated film is in theaters doing really well it's made like over sixty million dollars i think we were we were talking about and and for promotional purposes that when they have the turtles appear in places the costumes for those turtles are still being made by the jim henson studios so the the when you see the the four turtles pop up at like press events and you know
00:55:35
Speaker
I'm assuming maybe at some point down the line, theme parks, uh, you know, you'll see those, uh, those turtles pop up. Yeah. The, uh, here in New Jersey, we have the American dream mall and has Nickelodeon world. And currently the turtles that show up in Nickelodeon world are, are the, the 2012 style of costumes. But I'm, I'm wondering if maybe those new costumes that they made for, for immune mayhem will show up there at some point, but, um,
00:56:05
Speaker
Yeah, any last thoughts from you, Dave, on the Ninja Turtles 1990 movie? No. Yeah, I think we got it. Yeah, I think we covered it. So before we send you home, what movie? Let's put a question out here to our listeners. Yeah, you'll see it on those
00:56:33
Speaker
Instagram stories. What should they do, Dave? When they see you smash when they see what we're going to talk about subscribes and hit the bell on YouTube and subscribe there. So that way, you know, when we put out videos like this episode.
00:56:54
Speaker
Yeah. So, we would love to continue this toys on film topic somewhere down the line. Let us know what you think of this. Yeah. One, did you like this? Did you enjoy this? Two, what movie should we do next? Let us know. Is there something we could have done?
00:57:13
Speaker
Better and I don't know just I hope you enjoyed it because we enjoyed talking about this movie for an hour. So yeah Yeah, I mean I mean with that. I mean I love being a turtle Dave send us home cowabunga
00:57:32
Speaker
Thank you, dear listener, for hanging out with us today. Subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you listen, and then tell your friends to do it. Thanks also to Joe Azari, the golden voice behind our intro. Our music is Game Boy Horror by the Zombie Dandies. Find more about them both on our show notes.
00:57:48
Speaker
Follow us on social media at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Stop by and say hi. Show us your toy hauls and share your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it in a future episode.
00:58:12
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation, executive producer Frank Kablaui. This program and many others like it on the non-productive network is distributed under a Creative Commons attribution non-commercial no derivatives license. Please share it, but ask before trying to change it or sell it. For more information, visit non-productive.com.