Turtles!

**Squee!**

I have been a fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles almost before I can remember. XD; I recall getting a TV Guide in 1990 that had show previews and included it (and they were on the cover). That may have been my first exposure to them; I'm not sure. But I've been a fan at least ever since then. XD;

I actually remember very little of the old TV show now, except for a later episode that I always seemed to catch. LOL. And all I remember of it is something about some troubled kid on a motorcycle and Donny getting pushed and the other Turtles running to help him while calling his name.

No, the main thing I grew up on was the first movie. I watched it over and over. There was a time when I watched it every night before I went to bed. XD; I couldn't get enough. And all the way back then, I had recently begun to explore my love of h/c. And then, the movie had so much. o.o Leo and Raph having their conflict, and Raph getting hurt later in a battle with the Foot Clan, and Leo sitting and keeping vigil over him while waiting for him to wake up.... ;___; LOVE.

I rewatched the movie several years ago and still loved it, but the one thing that bugged me was having Donny be as much of a goof, or moreso, than Mikey. Donny is supposed to be logical, not a screwball!

I also grew up on one lone special issue of the Archie comic, the one where they fight the Grog aliens. X3 More love.

Anyway.... When the 2003 series came out, I didn't watch immediately; I think I got on board during first or second season reruns. I know a lot of fans of the original TV show hate it, but I loved it. It was darker, grittier, deeper...! The first season used a lot of plot points from the first movie (which probably came from the original Mirage comics, to which the new series has closer ties than the older show). Plus, a lot of the voices sounded similar to the way they did in the movie. Raph, Splinter, and Casey especially.

(Oh yeah, Casey? A beef I have with the old show. XD; He was barely in it! And when he was, I heard he was basically made to be an idiot. **headdesk.** But luckily, I grew up with intelligent Casey from the first movie.)

I was interested when I heard about the fourth movie going to be made. But I didn't get the chance to see it in theatres. I finally saw it today, though, after an odd series of events including seeing it in Wal-Mart last week, not buying it, and then dreaming about buying it a couple days later. So ... I did.

It took me just a few minutes to adjust to the CGI people (not a big fan of cartoony-looking 3D people here), and neither the Turtles or Casey were quite as buff as I thought they should be, but the story drew me in soon enough. LOL, I read that someone involved with making the movie wanted to prove that animated movies aren't all about "characters running into each other and passing gas." I had to laugh, because honestly, that's largely how a lot of recent animated movies look to me from the previews. But that's another rant. (And of course I realize there are some excellent recent animated movies that don't rely on stupid bathroom humor to run.)

I *love* this movie! It's dark, deep, but has its light-hearted moments too. I can see the influence of both the previous movies and the 2003 series, and judging from some reviews I saw around the time the movie came out, it appealed to fans of the original TV show too. And the Winters character ... fascinating. He reminds me of Dartz, both canonically and the Dartz from my fics.

Leo and Raph have more conflicts. I love the rocky relationship between those two. If characters are often at odds (or if it's not necessarily shown a lot, but it's still considered a staple of the characters), I really like exploring the reasons why/their clashing personalities/etc. Of course, if characters don't often fight, like Mikey and Don don't, then I do not like to see it much at all. XD; Donny is the scientific one again, as he should be, and Mikey is a goof, of course, but he doesn't annoy me like he usually does on the TV show. XD;;

My only serious complaint about the movie: I wish it had been longer. There were some things I would have loved to seen expanded on more. Is there a novelization? If so, I must have it!

My next TMNT-related mission: get The Secret of the Ooze movie. I remember the Thanksgiving Friday when it aired on TV. "Forget the turkey and turn on the Turtles!" LOL. And I don't think I forgot the turkey, but I did turn on the Turtles. XD Even my mom got a kick out of the scene where they're fighting bad guys in the nightclub and Vanilla Ice is rapping on the stage, trying to make the audience believe it's all part of the show. **snarks.**