35 years ago, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles looked to the future by sticking to the comics.
It was feeling your parents tense up with shock when Raphael said Damn inTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Nobody got hurt, nobody got scared, and certainly, nobody said, Damn.
But as the posters forTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlespromised, This aint no cartoon.
But here he was, firing away and blowing up the factory, not concerned about anyone getting hurt.
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But that was the norm with comic book adaptations at the time.
The comics provided source material and a recognizable name.
Everything else had to be changed for wider audiences.
Thus, we get Joker killing Bruce Waynes parents inBatman, leaving poor Joe Chill in the cold.
We get Marlon Brandos Jor-El wearing an S shield within a crystalline Krypton inSuperman.
We get Adrienne Barbeau as Alice Cable falling for Ray Wises Alex Holland in 1982sSwamp Thing.
To be clear, such revisions from the source material werent always bad.
ButTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesdidnt approach things the same way.
It was a comic book adaptation first, a cartoon adaptation second, and a mass-market movie last.
Most of the humor came from exaggeration of comic book tropes, presenting the silliest material with utter seriousness.
Most importantly, they get rid of the matching red masks and each got their own individual color schemes.
All of those aspects make their way into the movie, especially the personalities and the masks.
But so did much of the comics.
The Turtles banter, their predilection for pizza, and even the movies logo all come from the comics.
Turtles Ahead of Their Time
Today,TMNTs minor changes from the comics seem drastic.
Today, everyone knows what SHIELD is, and Commander Steel was a fan favorite inLegends of Tomorrow.
TMNTdidnt get everything right.
