In this day and age, who could ask for more?
Turtlemania!! With a new short in theaters, a new season of the animated series, a reboot of the IDW Comics series, and a scorching hot Arrow Video Limited Edition box set of the original movies, there’s no question it’s totally Turtlemania time! Join us as we celebrate the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!
Fans have long clamored for a special edition of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies, especially the 1990 original. It’s been a long time coming, but UK-based Arrow Video, who were also behind the 4K glow-ups of tangential genre favorites like The Warriors, Robocop and Tremors, have answered the call and delivered a box set of all three films that fans can truly embrace.
Our TMNT-obsessed editor watched every extra – yes, every single commentary, featurette, interview, trailer, and alternate cut – on the entire set, most of them more than once, to truly capture the depth and breadth of this release. And take it from us – this is a phenomenal set and packed with extras that viewers will be unpacking for a long time.
Part 1 looks at the extras for the first movie. (Note, this just covers on-disc extras – for “in the box” extras, check out our huge unboxing pictorial!)
Special Features and Extras – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Audio Commentaries
- Commentary with director Steve Barron – I love him so much. This is a commentary I’ve wanted for years and it doesn’t disappoint. One thing that actually holds true across all three directors and their commentaries is that they’re all pretty humble, soft-spoken dudes who seem to genuinely enjoy the movies and appreciate the opportunity and experience of making them.
- Commentary with comic book expert Dave Baxter – A pretty great, factoid-filled wall-to-wall commentary that puts the film into a historical context. A couple minor factual mistakes but he clearly knows what he’s talking about and put in a lot of research.
- Rising When We Fall: Directing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (14:45) – a new Arrow interview with director Steve Barron. The interview questions are edited out so that we only hear Barron’s comments, so it feels a little jumpy. Steve discusses a number of topics including coming to the movie and working with legends like Jim Henson and editor Sally Menke (with a very cool story about Menke that brought a huge smile to my face!)
- Turtle Talk: The Cast Who Brought the Turtles to Life (18:50) – a new Arrow interview with turtles actors Robbie Rist, Brian Tochi, Ernie Reyes Jr, and Kenn Scott. Ken Scott has a particularly great stories of how he lucked his way into getting involved, and Ernie Reyes, who also worked on the film’s fight choreography, discusses creating the film’s fighting styles.
- O’Neil on the Beat: Judith Hoag Reporting on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (19:54) – a new Arrow interview with Judith Hoag (April). A fun look back on her getting involved, performing extensive ADR, and working with “the turtles” and establishing a close chemistry with Elias Koteas (Casey Jones). A lot of her energy at the time was centered on taking the role while being fairly new to the industry. And even though it’s familiar to fans, her Robin Williams story is always so incredible and I will never tire of hearing it.
- Wet Behind the Shells: Producer Simon Fields Looks Back (11:01) – a new Arrow interview with producer Simon Fields, who talks hiring director Steve Barron (“Take on Me”), working with Golden Harvest, and initial plans to use Malcolm McLaren for the film’s score before pivoting to John Du Prez.
- Beneath the Shell: The Puppetry of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (16:07) – a new Arrow featurette with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. Brian Henson describes his work with his father Jim Henson and director Steve Barron on The Storyteller, which led to his coming into TMNT (and bringing the Creature Shop along). One of the rougher things he discusses is the tenous relationship that the creatives had with the production (he, Barron, Menke, and others worked under constant scrutiny and were all fired, and in some cases cyclically fired and rehired).
Animatronics puppeteer Rob Tygner describes the control systems and operational nuances of bringing expressions and movement to live. The film’s varied puppet and costume effects included martial arts performance suits, animatronic dialogue suits, baby turtle puppets, and a full puppet character (Splinter).
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turf: A Location Tour (12:58) – I always love location featurettes, even for bad movies, so seeing one for one of my all-time favorite films is pure bliss. Michael Gingold takes us on a tour of both New York City locations and the studio and farmhouse in North Carolina.
- Alternate UK Version (1:31:15) – Something worth noting that I didn’t realize; the UK release featured the “Ninja Turtles” title – not “Hero Turtles” like the animated show, as I would’ve expected. Anyway, you can tell immediately from the opening Golden Harvest logo (hey, why didn’t we get that?), this is different edit.
The disc menu notes that this is a reassembly interjecting the new restoration with alternate footage where Michaelangelo’s nunchaku are removed, and you can see where the shots occasionally shift to a softer image.
Some of the edits are kind of wild, like a blatant goof in which Raphael is in two places at the same time. Many of Mikey’s scenes are altered, and the chuck duel – a memorable highlight that kids excitedly chattered about on the playground in 1990 – is completely omitted. His changes are most noticeable during fight scenes which frequently have alternate shots. The film’s finale, in which Splinter handles a nunchaku, is also drastically nerfed, excising a rather important bit of dialogue (“Death comes for us all…”) and undercutting the drama of the Shredder’s demise.
This version of the film is not for casuals but definitely worth a watch for any fans who are intimately familiar with the original cut and would notice the differences and point to the screen like the meme of Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. To Arrow’s credit, this cut is treated like a feature and not as an afterthought – it features full subtitles and chapter stops. This is an incredible bonus and I have just one criticism, aware that this is a gift horse – I really, really, really wish they had just included a full UK 35mm scan instead of creating a hybrid assembly.
- Alternate Ending (2:10) – from a VHS workprint. Besides showing an famous deleted scene, it also shows a bit of the Turtles’ original suit actor voices which is kind of a neat switchup.
- Alternate Korean Release Footage (1:01) – The film was edited to accommodate anti-Japanese sentiment, removing references to Japan and ninjutsu. So although the UK didn’t use the “Hero Turtles” title, Korea did. To hell with this racist crap (but not to its inclusion here, which is appreciated).
- Theatrical Trailers
- US Theatrical Trailer (1:28) – 35mm scan of the original theatrical trailer. I love this superbly edited trailer and its quirks: an alternate voice for the Shredder, some footage from a scene which was cut from the movie, and the meticulous sync to incredible music by Malcolm McLaren which doesn’t appear in the movie.
- UK Teaser Trailer (1:05) – A differently cut teaser featuring Casey Jones prominently and using musical cues from the film score.
- UK Theatrical Trailer (1:33) – Virtually the same as the US Trailer aside from distributor logo and release details.
- UK Re-Release Trailer (2:06) – a pretty goofy DVD-era trailer celebrating a UK theatrical re-release.
- Image Gallery – a nice roundup of behind the scenes photos and marketing materials. Even as a hardcore fan, there are images here I don’t recall seeing before.
What’s not here?
So obviously this thing is packed, but are there any omissions? Well, there’s no director’s cut or workprint – something that Barron and others have mentioned an interest in releasing. Unfortunately the archival materials are considered lost.
On the interview front, I feel the most glaring omission is that of actor Elias Koteas. He plays one of the most important characters and returned for the third film. James Saito (Shredder) and writer Bobby Herbeck are other notable absences, as are Turtles creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, and Mark Freedman of Surge Licensing. Kevin Eastman has done live commentary events; it would’ve been amazing to get that experience on disc.
But perhaps the most disturbing silence is that coming from the “Right Field” Pizza Hut ad from the original VHS release.
Real ones know.
Stay tuned for Part 2 exploring the additional extras on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II and III!
A/V Out
