When we talk about mutant animals, we immediately think of the Ninja Turtles. But when were they born, and who created them? Let’s find out here.
Who are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?
They have the names of four famous artists: Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo. They are four turtles, who have become anthropomorphic mutants due to a radioactive liquid that fell into the sewers. However, not everyone knows that the original story was in comics, and that not even their creators had faith that it could be successful.
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The origins
Their “fathers” were American cartoonists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It was 1984, and the idea was born of four turtles contaminated by a radioactive liquid and becoming experts in martial arts. When they tried to submit it to some Publishing Houses, nobody wanted to take charge of the project, so the two decided to found their own: they called it Mirage, and produced the first 3000 copies, with little confidence. The results surprised them: soon the comics sold like hot cakes, and the contract stipulated with the toy company Playmates Toys, in conjunction with the creation of a television series, sanctioned its definitive success. The four turtles with colored bandanas, pizza lovers, entered the collective imagination and the effects of this popularity can still be seen today.
Characters
As intended by their creators, the four turtles wore a red bandana. Later, to distinguish them, each of them brought one of different colors: it remained red for Raphael, while Leonardo wore a blue one, Donatello purple and Michelangelo orange. With them their mentor, who had raised them, Master Splinter: he too was a mutant, but in the form of a rat. Then there was an ally, journalist April O’Neil, the first to know of their existence as vigilantes who act only at night. And an enemy, the fearsome Shredder, at the head of the criminal organization Clan del Foot.
Live action and animated series
There are a total of four Ninja Turtles animated series: the first aired from 1987 to 1996 (193 episodes and ten seasons), the second in 2003, the third in 2012 and the last in 2018. But there is also a series live action, just two seasons, born in 1997, in which a fifth female turtle named Venus appears.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movies
A similar phenomenon could not fail to land in the cinema, again in live action, with five films. The first three are related to each other, with the first released in 1990 and the third in 1993. The other two are also related to each other, released in 2014 and 2016, and April O’Neil has the face of Megan Fox. None of these were very successful.