Home News Celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the TMNT Original Animated Series

Celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the TMNT Original Animated Series

by Justin W
It has officially been about 30 years since the first TMNT cartoon hit the small screen. Image Source: Fred Wolf Films, Viacom.

When Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird created the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book, they had no way of knowing how popular it would become. Even so, their hit comic wasn’t quite enough to propel this franchise forward. It wasn’t until the first animated series was released in 1987 that our heroes in a half shell became incredibly popular. Thanks to this original animated series, the TMNT quickly became a staple in American households.

According to Wikipedia, the first episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hit the air during the week of December 28th, 1987. IMDb has a slightly different date of December 14th, but it’s entirely possible that they have it wrong. Whatever the case may be, it’s pretty clear that the original animated series first aired in December of 1987. Although some of you might be preparing for the holidays, we recommend setting aside a little time to celebrate this special anniversary as well.

 

As many of you may know, the original animated series started off as a 5-part miniseries. In 1988, the cartoon got picked up for a second season, and the rest is pretty much history. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ran for a total of ten seasons from 1987-1996. During its run, the classic TMNT series became so popular that it would go on to inspire other iterations of the turtles. One of the most significant inspirations came in the form of the turtle’s masks, which had all previously been the same color in Eastman & Laird’s comic books. After the original animated series became popular, everyone’s favorite multi-colored masks were soon found in both the TMNT movies and video games.

If you were a kid at the time, chances are that you absolutely adored this cartoon. Unfortunately, most adults who go back to watch it now find that the original animated series simply does not hold up. Even if you’re one of the fans who no longer enjoys this version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it’s fair to say that the classic television show was both significant and important to TMNT history. With that in mind, we hope you’ll join us in celebrating the 30th anniversary of the original animated series!

Are you planning to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of this classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon? If so, share your thoughts and plans either in the comments below or on Facebook/Twitter.

You may also like

7 comments

*NormalGamer* December 18, 2017 - 11:09 pm

Definitely grew up watching this show; it’s what got me into the franchise before I knew that it started in the mirage comics. ^_^

Chris Klipstein December 19, 2017 - 4:35 pm

I’m going watch my 30 favorite episodes from the 10 seasons. Wouldn’t be a TMNT fan if it weren’t for this show. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/74a742e4c1a78aa16800dba5ec42d6f8c775800ee01a2f534b6b4927c376718c.jpg

NUMBER ONE TMNT FAN December 20, 2017 - 4:33 pm

Awesome! I’ll have to whip out some of my DVD’s this week!

Spyda-Man December 22, 2017 - 4:43 pm

I watch these toons all the time with my kids. So we celebrate it’s greatness every week already!

Mitch Fletcher February 1, 2018 - 1:25 pm

Same here

Camilo Ernesto Reyes Rodriguez January 3, 2018 - 8:44 am

I watched the series when I was about 12 or 13 years old. Now I have it complete on DVD …

Pedro Ferreira January 13, 2018 - 11:09 am

“Unfortunately, most adults who go back to watch it now find that the original animated series simply does not hold up.” Probably because they have no taste (wink).

Comments are closed.