Why did this happen? Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation Review

It is often remembered as one of the lowest points of the franchise, but why did it happen? I will explore the question in this review of "Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation".
These are simply my thoughts and opinions.
Narrated by Hayden Clark
www.fiverr.com/haydenclark232
Script by Javier S. Montano.
Why did this happen? Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation Review
00:00 Necessary backstory on creative ownership
02:09 The rise and fall of Turtlemania
04:34 Origins of "Ninja Turtles: The next Mutation"
07:25 Plot and villains
15:23 Is it that terrible? Could it be improved?
17:06 Power Rangers in Space crossover
17:43 Life after cancellation
20:18 So why did this happen?
And don't forget to SUBSCRIBE!

[@TheTurtleNexus]

Thanks for watching! Do you watch this show just for fun?

[@Joecbg100]

I was curious but I didn't watch any till I watched the reviews of Phelous, thismwas obnoxious and probably the worst thing TMNT has done to themselves

[@johnsoehnlen4781]

I was in my later teens when this came out so I never saw it. I borrowed the entire set from the library a few years back to give it a chance. After the episode with Raphael, Bonesteel, and the gorilla in the abandoned house, I was done. It was just too much for my adult mind to handle. Maybe someday I'll make another attempt at it. The best thing going for it was the original characters. Everything else was problematic to put it politely.

[@TheTurtleNexus]

@@johnsoehnlen4781 Yeap, it may take several tries to watch it all.

[@itsjoshua2508]

This is the best-worst show of all time

[@SharpDesign]

Venus could have worked as a character if she had been treated like a sister instead of oh, we're not really brothers and the boys hitting on her when they weren't hating on her. She didnt have to be a love interest.

[@srstriker6420]

I wonder why they cut out April in this show and underuse the Shredder, I think that most characters would have been perfect here like the Triceratons, Slash, Baxter Stockman, Rat king and Leatherhead.

[@TheTurtleNexus]

This came out after the cartoon ended, and its two last seasons, the cartoon also reduced the role of April, avoided using Shredder as much as possible and barely reused all characters. So the main reason was probably to make it feel fresh (that is why they added a new turtle).

[@srstriker6420]

@@TheTurtleNexus right

[@tyronleung5276]

@@TheTurtleNexus they have concept art of next mutation april and casey

[@battlestar976]

Just one season we might of gotten them at some point

[@tj.henderson]

​​@@tyronleung5276that was probably gonna be for season 2

[@EJsGameplay]

Man, I must have been peak target demographic for something like this cause I loved it has a kid. The crossover with Power Rangers blew my mind.

[@jagtech490]

I gotta disagree with this being the Batman 66 of tmnt media because Batman 66 was actually good unlike this show. Batman ‘66 revitalized the Riddler and gave him many of tropes we see now for him. Can ya even say the same for NM ?

[@TheTurtleNexus]

Batman 66 is good now, after we got the Tim Burton and Nolan Batmen. When it came out it was a success for everybody except for the fans of Batman (the target audience was basically little kid or adults). Teenagers and pre-teens felt like they were making fun of their stuff. It did revitalize the Riddler, but it also made people think the character was silly and only for kids. This is why, after the show was canceled, they had to go back to the roots, and that is how we eventually got the O'neil/Adams run. Just like Next Mutation's failure eventually gave us the 2003 show. The silver episodes in Next Mutation are trying to be Batman 66 episodes, so that is one of the reasons I made the connection. Having said all that, despite being a silly show, Batman 66 didn't have all the quality issues that next mutation had (although, to be fair, it was easier to film than ninja turtles).

[@muffinboymcgee7411]

It's worth pointing out that at the time it was made, Batman '66 was actually an extremely faithful adaptation. I mean, have you ever read the Batman comics from the 50's and 60's? They're goofy as all hell!

[@PowerPackers90]

Power Rangers even took a dig at the Next Mutation years later. During Power Rangers Ninja Steel. When fighting a Turtle themed monster. The Red Ranger says something like "A Ranger fighting a Turtle. That's a silly idea".

[@xcmet]

When I first saw the next mutation, I wasn't very impressed with the shows plot, especially with it being a less interesting story when compared to other kid shows such as power rangers in space, mystic knights etc. As for Venus, I felt she was just a stereotypical product of feminism based on her foster brothers initial antagonistic behavior towards her , and having to prove herself to be the more competent character when things got serious. Venus character and her interaction with the other turtles, just came off to me as a subtle representation of a women in the workforce trying to feel accepted by her male peers who chastise her because of unique talents which threatened their masculinity. I would have liked Venus more is she didn't feel like a forced character trying to prove herself, which is one of the reason I can agree with why one of the writers of the TMNT did not accept her.

[@acsaudiodramas]

That was an awesome look at the background and development of Next Mutation. It is a shame, that so many of the better original concepts went down the drain and that people made all these bad decisons for the show. Never before I heard about any of this.

[@jeffwolcott7815]

I wonder how Peter Laird feels about Jennika and Lita in the IDW comics now. I am glad that Venus is getting another chance, though, she was the best part of Next Mutation to me.

[@TheSegaStoner]

I vividly remember when this show aired, I grew up during the whole of Turtlemania, and I gotta say that everyone at the time LOVED the next mutation. It gets a horrible rap now, and I get it, it's aged a bit rough compared to other ninja turtles outings, but when it aired it was amazing. If memory serves me, the reason it got cancelled is because it was expensive to produce at the time, at like a million dollars an episode, which was unheard of for a kids show in the 90s.

[@jack_meoff69]

I remember everyone back in the day hating it lol

[@shadowkick2852]

If they remade this as a cartoon, put April, Casey, Romance, and a few more things, it could have been better.

[@wallygator92]

It's weird that they were interested in making a toyline based on an underground comic in the first place.

[@MegaHoro]

I watched the Next Mutation when it was on; I liked it enough and collected the figures. It could've been interesting to see some of those season 2 ideas Recently, Phelous on KZbin reviewed every episode and I got a kick out of those

[@AlphaProto]

I was a big turtle fan as a kid. I was a teen by the time this show came on TV, but I gave it a chance. I liked these turtle costumes more than the ones in the third movie, but the eyeholes were not hidden. The martial arts action was ok. I love the Ocean group voices. I did not like that Venus and the turtles were not blood related. The Shredder's design was bad, but I wish there was more Shredder. Overall, I did not hate it. I feel it had potential to improve., but I got some enjoyment out of it.

[@trevturp6891]

Plus their weapons are cool and the vehicle that they use is cool and sweet.

[@tyronleung5276]

Next mutation is a guilty pleasure of mine

[@OscarB53]

I remember this show I watched this when i was younger along with tmnt 2012

[@nellyp2622]

The Next Mutation is a low point for the franchise but it is not unwatchable and sometimes can be cheesy fun. As far as Venus being the best turtle I would disagree. I think Mikey came through as the better turtle. The episode where he had his own pirate radio station and he gave people life advise and planned a rave to raise money for the community was some of the best character development the series had to offer and is one of my favourite episodes from the show.

[@SanFran51]

As Phelous once said. "It's a show that seems to be made by people who have little to no knowledge of the franchise or seemingly having contempt for it.... basically THEY REFUSED TO TRY."

[@haileyshannon7548]

You forgot to mention what made Power Rangers cheap and easy to make was it used premade footage from the Japanese "Super Sentai" shows. Notice that both Mona Lisa and Venus are named after works of art rather than artists or that Kirby is name after a contemporary one rather than a Renaissance one.

[@TeamTowers1]

Depends on the season for the most part. In Space (the season that aired alongside Next Mutation) actually required Saban to film a lot of fight footage themselves, since there wasn't any real counterpart footage from Mega Ranger for a lot of the story elements In Space had.

[@pushkardivakar5912]

I liked this show

[@Thomaslightningmcqueensonic]

6:21 I need to see a full version of this poster dude

[@TheTurtleNexus]

That's not a poster, that was the back of the Playmates toys at some point.

[@Rose_Bride]

(I LOVE the title of this video. 😂) I was 4 years old when the 1987 animated series came out, but 14 years old by the time _The Next Mutation_ was released. I...wasn't a fan. I WANTED to like Venus, but was almost IMMEDIATELY put off by her. I didn't understand why they gave her a _blue_ bandana when Leo was ALREADY wearing blue. I understand WHY they maybe wouldn't have wanted to give her "pink" due to stereotyping girls as "pink"...(even though personally this seems like it would have been the most OBVIOUS choice to me) but then WHY couldn't she have YELLOW instead? Or even WHITE? Why give her BLUE of all things when there was _already_ an established Turtle who had this color? Honestly her character REALLY annoyed me, and I disliked how they COMPLETELY removed April from the story. It felt like Leo and Raph were "kind of" into her. (Especially with the way they emphasized The Turtles not being related.) That said, I FULLY agree that Venus wasn't the "entire" problem with this show. Even "if" she hadn't been included, I STILL would have disliked the show based on their new "goofy" personalities. _These_ Turtles were _supposed_ to have been "older" but acted like immature 12 year olds half the time. It was...a little gross, actually. But my younger male cousins ages 5-7 at that time) were absolutely _IN LOVE_ with this show, so maybe it just wasn't made "for" me. The 2003 iteration (seasons 1-5) of The Turtles _remains_ my favorite.

[@Misery7531]

Her Bandana's colored cyan

[@theotherjared9824]

Those blog posts still blow me away. Someone really wanted to see this project through completion and found a weird but clever workaround to get all the scrapped content out there.

[@thekiddencore9094]

But I have to admit That the Warst version of the TMNT was the 1994 crestmas special

[@srstriker6420]

9:23 didn’t they do that in the 1987 series because I recall that in Splinter vanishes Leatherhead says to Raphael, Mikey and Donnie that Leo is their friend not their brother is taking a deep fall and in Turtles Forever 87 Leo questions his 2003 counterpart when he calls his splinter father while his relationship with his splinter is more of a pet and owner later turn mentor and student relationship rather than a father and son relationship? Also if there was females turtles, It wouldn’t be like seven brides for seven brothers and the Bride of Frankenstein combined Also I thought that crazy Hunter was inspired by Kraven the Hunter.

[@TheTurtleNexus]

It was always left ambiguous. The Splinter relationship in the 1987 was always sensei/students, so that is why the 2003 turtles were surprised. I think the turtles were always brothers, because they grew up together. The 1987 show was written by many writers that didn't know what the others were doing (concurrently, because they had to make 65 episode batches), and sometimes confused who the characters were, so I would also not read too much into inconsistencies :p

[@srstriker6420]

@@TheTurtleNexus right because it was confusing

[@tyronleung5276]

In the toy line they weren't related they came from different pet shops and the second intros shows them as different species of aquatic turtles

[@dirkb9788]

I was a fan in the late 80's of the Turtles. In the 90's i was stil young enough to like the Power Ranger (until the movie). But man, die this show made me get over it.

[@countpicula]

“Why did this show happen?” Cause they wanted to have a gUrL pOwEr turtle. And remove April cause she’s “oBjEcTiFiEd”

[@husni1998]

Can you make a video about slashour the ultrom mercenary that is a character exclusive from the tmnt 2 battle nexus game consoles and pc versions that game is based on the season 2 of tmnt 2003 cartoon

[@TheTurtleNexus]

I never had the chance to play that game, but I can do some research and see if there is enough material there for a video.

[@tyronleung5276]

Slashuur

[@tannerprice2018]

I would say “Saban should’ve just stuck with Power Rangers,” but in retrospect, honestly, Power Rangers was better with Hasbro and Disney than they were with Saban. It may sound crazy, but I find Next Mutation more tolerable than TMNT III. At least with Next Mutation, there were some ideas that could’ve worked in another series, like taking on a Vampire and the turtles stopping her minions from reclaiming her disembodied heart, or a crazy poacher that acts like a deranged Kraven The Hunter. Even IDW proved a female turtle, being the fifth member of their team, could work, if they actually tried to write up a story arc for the character instead of turning them into a tacked-on face-in-the-crowd. And Rise Of The TMNT proved a TMNT series that focused on the mystic arts could also work. At least with most of Next Mutation, even the bad stuff were at least enjoyably bad, obviously TOO kid-friendly, but in some cases, it can go in the so-bad-it’s-good quality, and the performances of the actors doesn’t seem like they were phoned in. Unlike TMNT III, where the all the Turtles were basically walking joke-machines and the plot became too stupid to possibly comprehend.

[@JcgLounge]

Saban had some great moments with PR. Who could forget In Space, Lost Galaxy, Lightspeed Rescue, and Time Force. But overall, Disney, and to a certain extent Hasbro, did treat the franchise better. Saban when they bought it back only derailed their own property.

[@peepsg]

@@JcgLounge only I know difference Saban and Disney is their urge tone and outfits

[@haileyshannon7548]

@@JcgLounge Megaforce and Super Megaforce had a cool idea, but it was poorly executed, especially how do you explain the existence of all the Rangers from the 14 different teams that existed before Zyuranger (the Super Sentai show that MMPR was adapted from).

[@superdalen7140]

Will you speculate the the plot for the fourth movie like what it could have been

[@TheTurtleNexus]

I believe the Old Turtle Den already did a video about it a while ago.

[@superdalen7140]

Like I. What the lines the scene and how it would look like

[@kingdomtrue7008]

The Chinese element actually works as Chinese tactics are one of the origins of the ninja

[@nickcadwell1094]

I liked Venus, but I would have done her look better, but would have stuck to the original idea of her.

[@CartoonTriper]

"Michaelangelo have brain damage"

[@darknessnight1115]

I prefer the original cartoon to 2003, but I have to say, historically, if Laird think it sucks, that's usually because it does lmao I always thought Dragon Lord was an interesting alternate take on Lord Dregg- more serious nemesis than Shredder

[@superdalen7140]

Tv show idea ninja turtles elemental powers So it like this the turtles travel the hollow earth with April and Casey and 6 new turtles and new characters and some old characters

[@hdofu]

I agree completely!

[@theakkiqueen4655]

I always thought her anatomy was a bit odd.

[@montanajackson3713]

The overuse of sound effects in this show could give Ed Edd n Eddy a run for their money.

[@tyronleung5276]

There's casey jones and april next mutation concept art

[@Officiallydubs]

Splinter is absolutely disgusting in this

[@Therealflash69]

Im sure I'm in the minority here but I actually like the Next mutation designs & show 😂, also the sole reason why I watched this show was bcs of the "Power Rangers" crossover

[@CurtsCoolVids104]

In my opinion I think this show is a good show, just not a good TMNT show, and I hope to see Venus come back on TV one day.

[@Joecbg100]

The only way to improve this show is to pull a AVGN and slash the DVD cases

[@orionsmithey3009]

Simon bone steel is the only thing I like about the next mutation.

[@Misery7531]

This literally the only teenage mutant ninja turtles I've watched entirely and i don't know where i can watched the 1987 series and i still haven't watched the 2003 series for years

[@TheTurtleNexus]

The 87 show is coming to Paramount+ (the 2003 show is also there, I think).

[@BulletTooth504]

But what about the "New Way"?

[@countpicula]

Say what you will about Saban and the rangers shows. All those actors from that era keep coming back to the well and doing more power rangers reunite stuff.

[@TeamTowers1]

To be fair Power Rangers is actually pretty good from In Space (ironically the season that aired alongside the Next Mutation) through to the end of the Disney years.

[@baa848]

Why is Chicago in the thumbnail?

[@TheTurtleNexus]

Not sure. Probably the only skyline I could find at the time that matched the rest of the elements in the thumbnail.

[@nazishhussain2712]

I didn’t know this show existed

[@tyronleung5276]

How didn't you they crossed over with the power rangers in space which was big

[@andgalactus1]

People should just narrate their own videos in these very opinion based videos.

[@TheTurtleNexus]

I agree... but I am also not the right voice for it.

[@superdalen7140]

I heard the government where going to Discover the turtles

[@TheTurtleNexus]

I heard that too.

[@lukethomas216]

Got to be the worst example of the franchise. Great vid 👍

[@thekiddencore9094]

I dislike this version of the tmnt

[@wyldelf2685]

I'm glad this show happened ,I just wish it was written better , 5th new turtle was good idea , but it also NEEDED Shredder and April , , ,show was good vehicle if only it had been utilized better , , , opportunity missed 🤔🤔👍

[@TeamTowers1]

To be honest I think you are selling Power Rangers a tad short here. While it was never exactly high art, it was at least trying to tell more mature serialized stories around the time The Next Mutation came about and had more less moved away from the mindless drivel that the early seasons. And to it's credit it actually stayed that way for a good while after this, even through the Disney years, only really descending back into drivel when Saban bought the brand back from Disney. I don't know it just seems kind of hypocritical to look down your nose at Power Rangers.

[@TheTurtleNexus]

It's only my opinion. The opinion I had of the Power Rangers at the time, and the opinion I have now. I may have been out of the MMPR target audience by the time they showed up in my country (I was 13), and that probably influenced my opinion of them. To be fair, I am talking of production value mostly. I never liked the scripts either, but that's always very subjective. The quality in "The Next Mutation" is hard to find. It's hidden under annoying sound effects (for no particular reason), and bad acting. As goofy as the original cartoon got at some point, it never became a thing you would watch to laugh at. The cartoon usually laughed with you about those goofy things. But again, it's only my opinion.

[@TeamTowers1]

@@TheTurtleNexus Sure but it just feels like you are treating all of Power Rangers as MMPR, when ironically it had actually moved from that kind of story telling. Don't forget the whole reason Power Ranger fans hate the Neo Saban era is because it ignored all the strides the franchise had made in that regard, in favor of trying to mimic MMPR.

[@TheTurtleNexus]

@@TeamTowers1 I am not a Power Rangers expert, so I wouldn't be able to talk about the franchise. I watched the episodes around the crossover with Next Mutation and I didn't see that much of a difference with what I remembered. You have to keep in mind that at the time, MMPR was competing against X-Men (and Batman The Animated Series debuted a couple of years before), so my expectations were simply different. In any case, I put a disclaimer in the video that these were simply my opinions, and opinions are not facts. I am sure you are right on what you are saying, but I have to talk from my point of view here.

[@TeamTowers1]

​@@TheTurtleNexus It's by no means in the same league as BTAS, but Power Rangers In Space does have a fair amount of surprisingly dark content in it and tried to have a bit more depth to things. For example i's main character is reluctant to accept the others as team mates at first because he is dealing with the pain of most his people being wiped out and he wants to keep his distance to not have to experience losing loved ones again. Don't get me wrong the presentation is still very cheesy, but the overall story line is pretty good. It's still got nothing on how much darker it's Japanese counterpart could get (and it's brother franchise Kamen Rider could get even darker).

[@ACougarSwagnum]

and your videos are great, but such a slow delivery, painful

[@aaronmarkham4424]

I blame the Karen's for complaining about the "violence" of the first film. They got what they wanted though didn't they.....

[@ACougarSwagnum]

THIS SHOW WAS COMPLETE A S S

[@ryryrx]

I do not really like this show but I like one character and that’s Venus i want to see Venus more in the teenage mutant ninja turtles franchise more 🐢🩵 I hop you guys want the same.

[@Misery7531]

Yes I do to in fact my version (voiced by Mallorie rodak) would be in my TMNT series as well as jennika smith, Even though they don't appear for like a majority of my series