The Most Hated TMNT Version and Why It’s Amazing — Rise of the TMNT Review

By far the most hated version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the TV show Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This version of the TMNT released in 2018 and was canceled only two years later due to an extensive amount of hate; the show was promised at least 3 seasons but only ended up with 1 and a half. Personally though, for every reason this show is hated is a reason why I love it. 

To start, the animation and design are absolutely wonderful. Unlike every other TMNT version, these characters have very different appearances–each being a different turtle species, with different designs that clearly show their unique personalities. The creators even put effort into making each design a different general shape to further show their individuality. To explain, Mikey is a circle because he is bouncy and fun, whereas Leo is a triangle because he is sharp and quick-witted. The colours are fun and bright, and the details are immaculate–even in the backgrounds. This TV show’s animation rivals the most popular pieces of animated content out there! You can clearly see that a lot of love has been put into this show.

Secondly, they changed up a lot of things while also trying to pay tribute to the older generations of TMNT. The crew added new characters and villains, and revamped old ones to display how this truly is a fresh, new take on the franchise. Two examples of revamped characters are Baxter Stockboy–previously named Baxter Stockman–and Cassandra Jones, this generation’s take on Casey Jones. To name just a few new characters, we have Repo Mantis, Warren Stone, and Draxum. 

Furthermore, one big change that irked many old fans is that Leonardo is not the team leader, but Raphael is. This reincarnation of the TMNT has changed up the character dynamics tremendously. Seeing Raph and Leo of older TMNT generations constantly fight over who should be leader, It’s a refreshing change seeing Raph lead for once, and these differences in dynamics are interesting concepts to explore. Old fans only want to see the same old copy and paste characters, but Rise of the TMNT decided to embrace change and make something that would stand out. 

Lastly, the characters in Rise of the TMNT are absolutely wonderful. Typically when you think of the TMNT you would think Leo is the serious one, Raph is angry, Donnie is smart and Mikey is wacky. These cursory personalities have belonged to the TMNT for many generations–leaving the characters flat and lacking depth. When the Rise crew created this series they decided to show these characters as real kids with actual likes and dislikes, quirks, hobbies and personalities. For example, instead of making Donnie just the smart one, they also made him enjoy botany, music and dancing, anime, fashion and much more. The Rise characters genuinely feel real and alive, like you can actually relate to them. Instead of being disregardful and making the TMNT superficial again, the Rise crew decided to make new, amazing, well thought out characters. 

Unfortunately this show was not able to live up to its full potential, and most of the stupendous ideas and concepts these writers created may never be shown to the world. Rise of the TMNT chose to embrace uniqueness and take risks, giving us a wondrous addition to this franchise. I truly love this TV show, and am upset that others couldn’t see the beauty in it too. My only complaint about Rise of the TMNT is that there aren’t more seasons.