 In previous Nidojo episodes, we covered the fun facts on the original Kratty Kid from 1984 and Mortal Kombat from 1994. Now if you haven't watched those yet, I encourage you to go check them out. So today we're going to join the heroes on the half shell with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from 1990. This is, as I feel, one of the best comic to movie adaptations even to this day. Everything was just on point with this film, from the tone, the grit, the humor, the action, and 11 year old Mr. Dan was just blown away seeing this on the big screen. I chose to start with these movies at first because, as I mentioned in the Mortal Kombat episode, I consider these three films to be an unofficial Pat Johnson trilogy, mainly due to the fact that he choreographed much of the fighting and stunts of these three films, but the three of them together highlight what I feel is a very skilled range of coordination. In the Kratty Kid, he was mostly working with actors with little, if any, martial arts experience, making a grounded, realistic film. In Mortal Kombat, he was working and collaborating with a skilled cast of martial artists in a variety of arts and portraying action in a very ethereal and fantastical way. In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, he's working with a combination of actors who play the turtles for main scenes and skilled martial artists for stunts while wearing horrendously uncomfortable costumes and some elaborate action sequences. So in my personal opinion, I feel that these three films really showcase Mr. Johnson's skills in choreography and collaboration. So in this episode, we're going to take a look at 10 fun facts about 1990s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Oh, and if you haven't checked it out yet, please be sure to stop by our Patreon page. We have set up a couple of goals that we're trying to meet and we can only do it with your help. You guys have been the best audience I have ever had and would feel privileged if you joined us in our endeavors. Now, one of our goals is to set up remote interviews and live streams, but there is a cost to this in addition to regular production expenses that come out of our pocket. Now, with that ability, we hope to interview a lot of people including choreographers and stuntmen, much like we've been talking about recently. Now, we have talked to a few people who are already open to the interview. We just need the community behind us so that we can achieve the infrastructure. So if you guys want to help support us, I'd really appreciate it a shell of a lot. Okay, so let's get right into the real reasons we love this as a kid. The animatronics and creature suits in this film are top notch. They are katana-sharp cutting edge 30 years ago and they are still impressive now. Now, when I was a kid back in 1989 and I heard the announcement that they were going to make a live-action initials movie, I had two immediate responses. The first one was, yes! The second one was followed by a, but how? I could not fathom how they were going to make a serious live-action movie with these characters and make them look good. Now, CGI was still in diapers and we had recently been treated to the animatrocities of garbage-pale kids the movie and killer counts from outer space. Now, as classic as those films are, they didn't exactly instill me with much confidence that they could pull this off. Oh my God. But they did it! With the help of the always amazing Jim Henson Creature Shop, they produced some incredibly realistic looking characters. I mean, look at the texture, the hair, the clothes, the shells, the whole look just works and aside from a couple of wobbly shell shots, they move fantastically. I especially love the minute details such as skin blemishes, cuts and matted fur, sweat, and even bruising from the fright with shredder. The details still impressed me today. Now, the second movie we skinned by was enough of the same to be acceptable, but by the time they got to the third film, they were no longer using the Henson Company and it shows. It really, really shows. So they say beauty is only skin deep. Well, because that's because under all those beautiful green smiles was a network of wires, gears and tears shed in darkness. As good as these costumes looked, the effect came at a cost as these costumes were described as hellish to work in. Now, I was very fortunate enough to meet Larry Lamb when Leonardo was fighting double from the second and third film. Many years ago, he came to our school for a seminar and he told us all sorts of stories about filming these movies. He said they were incredibly uncomfortable, hot, and they had to take constant breaks. He is also one of a few actors who said it was very unnerving wearing the heads because all of those animatronics that controlled the movements and expressions, they were not encased inside of any housing, but rather just open gears and motors buzzing around their face. Additionally, they had a very difficult time seeing. Now, obviously they couldn't see out of the turtle's actual eyes, so the best they could do was provide a tiny slit under the bottom of the turtle's headband to provide some vision. Now, Larry Lamb said it was a nice thought, but they really couldn't see much and they were basically fighting blind. Now, while they couldn't see, apparently they could taste, and one of the most blatant revealing shots is this nightmare fuel. You can actually see the actor's mouth down Don Tello's gullet. Now, what I actually heard was that the turtles were supposed to be able to actually eat pizza in the film and not wanting to get cheese to muck up the gears inside the heads. They built it so that the actors themselves could consume it. No, not really, but that's what I tell myself so I can sleep at night. Now, these suits also took some major abuse. Spare limbs were kept on hand as the foam rubber tore constantly. They were too big to fit through any real manhole covers, so they had to be custom built, and the actors often passed out from overheating. And a bonus little fun fact was that sometimes when they were doing stunts or action, they would use a lighter weight version of the heads without the animatronics as evidence in certain shots when their faces are locked into a single expression. Now, these three films are loaded with experienced martial artists, and I'm not going to go through all of them, but there are some fun honorable mentions. The first one is Ernie Reyes Jr., who did some stunt work and he took over for one of the turtle doubles who got injured in the fight with Shredder. Now, if you don't know him by name, then perhaps you'll recognize him as Kino from the second film. Additionally, we have Ho Sung Pak, who was Raphael's fighting double in Turtles 2, and he's also famous for portraying both Liu Kang and Shang Tsung in 1992's Mortal Kombat arcade game. His brother Ho Young Pak is also in the second film, along with Liu Kang's on-screen brother Stephen Ho from the Mortal Kombat movie. Now, the actors who portrayed the turtles also made cameo appearances outside of their green get-up. Raphael's real-life counterpart Josh Peiss can be seen as a passenger in a taxi. Leonardo's David Foreman plays the thug in the Casey Jones warehouse fight. Leaf Tilden, who played Donatello, was also the foot soldier messenger in the subway, and Michelangelo's Michelin Sisti also played the pizza delivery dude. He may have been three minutes late with the pizza, but he was right on time to the party. Another great feat of this film is that it was not a Hollywood studio film, but produced independently. Made on just over $13 million, they had to make every penny count. First of all, it takes place in New York, and for those of you who know anything about film production, New York is not a cheap place to film. Certainly not within the budget and scale of a movie like this. So, with the exception of a few establishing shots, filming primarily took place in North Carolina. They built sets and set pieces to recreate New York, with crew members spending up to four months going around New York City taking reference photos. I think it's pretty convincing. Now, with a budget of $13 million, this film ended up taking $135 million in the US box office and $201 million overall worldwide, making it the highest-grossing independent film of its time. Too bad they didn't have a few more dollars that they could fix that. Now, in an interesting choice, the filmmakers did not base this movie on the uber-popular cartoon series airing at this time. You know, the one where all the toys and merchandise are based off of, and this is the one that kids watch every day after school. Instead, the film is based on the original comic book series, which was popular among its fans, but most kids hadn't read it. Now, warning, 30-year-old spoiler alert. In fact, the movie's plot actually follows very closely to the first several issues of the comics. In the first issue called The Turtle's Origin is told, we learn the origin of Splinter, The Turtles, and History with Shredder. And me, myself and I, Raphael and Casey Jones have their first encounter, a battle. And what goes around comes around, one of The Turtles is seriously wounded in the battle with the Foot Clan. In Silent Partner, there is a massive fight with the Foot Clan in April's apartment between The Turtles and Casey Jones. In True Stories, the team takes refuge at April's old family farmhouse. And finally, in Return to New York, The Turtles return home, ready to face the Shredder and the Foot in the final showdown on the rooftops. Also, just like in the comics and not the cartoon, Splinter was Hamato Yoshi's pet rat that grew into a smarter, larger rat, not Yoshi himself transforming into an animal. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles also pokes a fun jab at the Daredevil comic series with some cute nods. They are both transformed by toxic ooze, their mentors are Splinter or Stick, and the Foot is a parody organization of The Hand. Now, there's also supposedly a lot of deleted footage from this film, some of which can be seen in the trailers. There is supposed to be an extension of the Casey Jones and Raphael fight, a different opening scene that follows the Turtles through the sewers, and there's even an alternate ending in which Danny and April try to pitch the idea of a Turtles comic book to a publisher only to get laughed at while the Turtles are hanging outside the office window. My personal favorite is the deleted scene of Shredder's intro. Shredder's introduction of the film is one of my favorite moments, but originally it played out very differently. In the original version, the thugs that tried to mug April at the beginning before being thwarted by the lean greens were being punished for their failure, capture, and prison bailout paid for by the foot. As punishment, Shredder enters the room, Tatsu preps them and gives them a red headband, and upon a signal, the four teens have to attack Shredder to take the headband. The one who gets it avoids the punishment. In a quick display of skill, Shredder easily defeats them all, slashing and cutting them, not to kill them, but to give them scars to wear as reminders. The battle ends and the teens take a step back, clutching the runes. Shredder says they will wear their scars proudly and then goes on with the ceremony that we see in the film. Now you can still see evidence of this fight in the final cut of the movie. And oh look, it's a young Sam Rockwell, and he's shredded. Now I think this is really cool to see, however I believe they made the right decision with the way they introduced Shredder. The way he enters the room is just epic. The music, the lighting, and the first time we get a clear look at a live action version of what is a ridiculous suit in the cartoon, it's actually majestic. We're seeing a king of this clan enter the room and it has gravitas. He's not the wisecracking Shredder of the cartoons that threatens to make turtle soup. Here, he feels dangerous. And not seeing him fight this early and saving it for the finale makes it that much more anticipated and fun. Now as impressive as the costumes were, and even as skillful as the stuntmen who portray them are, the turtles still needed a little bit more help. This film used a widely utilized trick in Hollywood, but it makes a difference. Now they were really pushing the limits of the technology with the animatronics, and while most of the time the faces look convincing, you can still see some jerky stiffness on occasion. Now sometimes the machines lack the ability to articulate perfectly, so to help with this, they filmed some of the dialogue scenes at 23 frames per second, so that when it was playback at 24 frames per second, it was a little bit quicker and sharper. In addition to that, fight scenes were often filmed at 22 or 23 frames per second for that little extra boost of speed. Now this is a really clever way to enhance your action without making it too obvious. Another simple film trick that they utilized was in the way they portrayed the flashback scenes. This is a dark movie full of shadows and grittiness, so when it has background story to tell, that's supposed to feel darker and grittier? Well what do you do? Well, they opted to film those sequences on super 8mm film. Now this is a consumer or pro-sumer level format at best, and when it's blown up to 35mm projection, it shows a lot of grain and massive loss of detail. But it worked perfectly and it really did set the tone for the flashbacks. Even the live-action turtle footage and puppets were done this way. And as a kid, I always knew it felt different, and at the time I never knew why. And now we know, and no one is half the battle. Wait, wrong show. The dark mood presented here really lends itself to the quality of the film, however not everyone was impressed. There were a lot of complaints over the violence in the movie. Now it may not be over the top by today's standards, but in 1990 a lot of people felt it was just too aggressive for a kid's movie. For one thing, the turtles are fighting and hurting people, teenagers, not just the inept robots of the cartoon. These characters all sustain a lot of injuries, many of them serious injuries. And perhaps the biggest source of ire amongst parents is the usage of weapons in the film. In this movie, the turtles actually use their weapons in an attempt to harm. Leonardo is really slashing the cut, Michelangelo is striking people full on with his nunchucks, and Donatello is beating the ever-loving stuffing out of people with his staff. And it wasn't just the parents who were upset over this. Actress Judy Hoag was apparently vocal about the level of violence in the film, along with the long working schedule, and she wasn't asked back for the sequels. Playmates, who had a very successful toyline for the cartoon, actually refused to produce action figures for this movie, only adding them later for subsequent films when the tone lightened up. And thinking back now, I'm like, that's right, I never did see action figures for this as a kid. Even the man himself, Jim Henson, was outspoken on the presentation. He was very proud of the work his company did on the film, acknowledging the technological achievement. However, he was quoted with calling the violence excessive, pointless, and not his style. Ouch. Even sadder is that this was the last film Jim Henson worked on, passing away shortly after its release. As a result of all the complaints, the second movie sheathed the weapons and loo of using other props for comedic effects. In the rare moments where the weapons came out, they were usually used in distraction or defensive applications. And finally, in the fun nod and homage to the original creators of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the film plays reference to Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. At the end of the film, when the police suddenly swarm the scene and start asking questions, they are told to check out the East warehouse over on Lairdman Island. It's a nice thought. Here's another thought. We're in the hell with the police and all the citizens during this entire battle. I mean, seriously. But then again, if I looked out the window and I saw all this, you won't find me lingering. Double mouth. Just taste the nightmare. So that concludes our Synidoja episode on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I loved this film as a kid. I still love it and I actually even appreciate it even more today. It holds up with age and I find myself putting it on at least once a year. Oh, and one more bonus little factoid. Leonardo is the only one in the entire film to land hit on Shredder. Apparently the animatronics weren't the only thing on the cutting edge. You knew what this was. Later dudes.