Cowabunga dudes!
It’s been a rough time for fans of the Heroes in a Half-Shell recently. Michael Bay’s reboot was met with tepid reactions and the leaked script featuring “Colonel Schrader” did nothing to help. But good things are happening in the Nickelodeon cartoon TMNT and executive producer Ciro Nieli has talked about bringing back Baxter Stockman, Mutagen Men and, more importantly, a cross over that will see the classic 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (or Hero Turtles if you’re British) cartoon brought into TMNT continuity.
In an interview with USA Today, Nieli talked about the crossover for season two: “We all have a nostalgia for these characters in all their incarnations, and any time we can serve it up, we take the chance,” Nieli says. “The trick is finding a way to do it where it doesn’t feel wedged in, where you don’t even see it coming.”
He adds, “I really like doing that stuff because I do have respect for the old stuff. I try not to geek out but it’s more like you just feel some pride in what you’ve been able to be responsible for. Like, yep, there they are — Turtle reunion. It’s not as cool as a Zeppelin reunion, but being able to bring something together, I’m thrilled I get to do that.”
He also makes note that the original voice cast of Cam Clarke (Leonardo), Townsend Coleman (Michelangelo), Barry Gordon (Donatello) and Robert Paulsen (Raphael) will be returning to provide the voices.
This isn’t the first time that the classic Ninja Turtles have crossed over with a new property. In 2009, Nickelodeon aired an hour long special called Turtles Forever which saw various forms of the Ninja Turtles (including the original comic incarnations) dimension jumping into each other. However one of the main criticisms that show received from fans was the lack of original voice casting.
What do you think Turtles fans? Is this news righteous? Or gnarly?
Originally published April 3, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
