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You couldn’t go into a grocery store in the ’90s without seeing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles staring back at you from a box of cereal or a pudding package. Sure, you remember the show and the toys, but what about the various musicals? The Oprah appearance? The original comic? Here are seven Ninja Turtle things you don’t remember from Turtlemania.
Super Odd Toys
You probably had some awesome TMNT toys, like the first Bebop and Rocksteady, or Casey Jones, or Shredder, or maybe even the TMNT Party Wagon or the Technodrome playset. Oh, and the four Turtles themselves. But the wave of Ninja Turtle toys didn’t stop with the characters on the show. Do you remember the Kowabunga Crackin’ Egg figures, where the Turtles hatched from eggs? Or the Star Trek Turtles, where the Ninja Turtles were classic Trek characters for some reason? Or the toy line where the turtles were farmers? Like, with tractors and everything?
The Ninja Turtles Christmas Special
We Wish You a Turtle Christmas was the first time the Ninja Turtles rapped on screen. Sadly, it would not be the last.
The Musical Turtle Stranger Danger PSA
Speaking of 25-minute direct-to-video Ninja Turtles nonsense, what about Turtle Tunes, where the Turtles hang out in a park and sing songs about cleaning up litter and not talking to strangers over public domain music?
That Time the Turtles Were on Oprah
In 1990, Oprah was probably the biggest name in television, unless you were a nine-year-old, in which case no one was bigger than the Turtles. So naturally, Oprah had to have all four Turtles (plus April O’Neil) on her show for a full hour. They were there to promote their new album and tour, so they sang a few songs in between fielding questions from Oprah herself. Also, she encouraged them to fight and they busted out some ninja moves, which was surprising for anyone who remembers the moral panic about violence in kids’ media. But Oprah wasn’t the only TV personality who jumped on the Turtle bandwagon. They were also on Regis & Kathie Lee and Barbara Walters.
The Ninja Turtles Music Tour
Coming Out of Their Shells was an album, music tour, and a VHS film of said music tour featuring the Turtles. Shredder hatches a plan to steal all the music of the world, so the Turtles form a music group and lip-sync to a bunch of songs. Also, April O’Neil does an eighties power ballad and Splinter does a Bob Seger knockoff that’s also a ballad. The whole thing was sponsored by Pizza Hut. Also, Shredder does, like, ten minutes of crowd work where he just makes fun of kids. It’s great!
The Other Ninja Turtles Music Tour
Since Coming Out of Their Shells was so inexplicably popular, the Turtles followed that up with Getting Down in Your Town. They actually only got down in your town if your town had a Six Flags, but they still released a VHS of this show. We consumed a whole lot of TMNT content as kids, but we sure don’t remember them singing as much as they seemed to have done.
The Very First Comic
Most ’90s kids remember the Turtles fondly as inoffensive cartoon characters who got into wacky adventures and sold a boatload of toys. However, most don’t realize that their origins were a bit more adult. The very first TMNT comic, printed in 1986, was black and white, a DIY affair, and featured the Turtles killing their nemesis, Shredder. But a year later, the Turtles creators partnered with a licensing executive and made the Turtles way more kid friendly. And that’s why the Turtles you know and love had their faces on all kinds of merchandise, bunches of toys, and apparently a musical empire.
